Q3 Not What it Looks Like
by miss37
Summary: Sequel to "Q2 Medicine For Murder". Mac meets up with an old enemy and gets an unexpected surprise from Julie, his new girlfriend. How will he escape this time?
1. Chapter 1

Mac Taylor stared out the window of his apartment at the howling wind which was driving snow in a sideways torrent of white. It was freezing cold out there and he hoped that he would not have to go out into that cold to investigate a murder. He was not sure he would be able to get to the office anyway. Some highways in New York were closed because of the blizzard. Mac shivered thinking of how cold it was out there…4 degrees. If that was not enough, the wind was howling and any exposed skin would be in danger of frost bite in this kind of weather. He walked back to his kitchen and got a bottle of water. He watched out the kitchen window as he drank some of the water. He had been in Montana not long ago with Howard Bailey who had kidnapped Danny Messer while he and Lindsay were over there visiting family for Thanksgiving. Bailey had told Mac that it was not over, and Mac was sure he had not seen the last of Bailey.

Mac went back into his room and pulled the covers back on the bed. He stretched and yawned as he started getting ready for bed. He got into his pajamas and got a book and his reading glasses. He looked at the mail that was lying on the nightstand. It was mostly junk mail and two bills. He still had bills from when he had been shot. He thought he might be paying on that for the rest of his life. The bills for a surgery like he had were incredible even after the insurance got done.

Mac got comfortable in the bed and started reading his book. He hardly ever had time to read a book but right now, everyone had been ordered off the streets, even him. White-out conditions were very dangerous and a person could become disoriented and become lost and freeze to death in weather like they were having now. He drank some more water while he was reading and then the phone rang.

"Hello," Mac answered.

"Hi, Taylor. Is it cold enough for ya?"

Mac frowned. "Bailey?"

"You recognized my voice. I'm flattered."

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten about you. How are you healing up?"

"Just fine," Mac said. "Why don't you find something else to do in life?"

"I guess it's a little too late for that. Now, I'm wanted, but I assure you, we're going to meet again."

"Good night."

Mac ended the call and closed his eyes. He did not like fighting. He had no desire to meet up with Howard Bailey again. He did not like being beat up and he did not like beating anyone else up. It had been about two months since that happened. It was now 2014 and Mac wanted to forget all the things that happened last year. Right now, he wanted to read his book in peace. He certainly did not want to think about Howard Bailey.

Mac read until he got too sleepy. He laid his glasses and book on the nightstand and turned over to watch the snow flying outside. He was glad to have a warm place to sleep. It had been brutally cold in Montana but now it was almost that cold here in New York and even colder in Montana. He hoped it was too cold out there for anyone to murder anyone and maybe everyone could get some rest.

The next morning, Mac woke up and found that the snow was still falling outside. It was very dreary looking out there and he thought there was even some snow sticking to the window outside. His phone had not rang at all during the night and he had slept the whole night. It was hard to believe he actually got to sleep all night. He usually had to get up early and go to a crime scene or he had to get up and rush to the office to work on a case that was already on the docket. He sat up and stretched and yawned. He looked at the clock and it was 7 am. He hardly ever slept that late but he was relaxed this morning and did not have to get up unless he was called so he would stay in bed.

Mac thought about when he and Claire had mornings when they could stay in bed. It was a very rare occasion. He wished now that he had taken more of those days because Claire loved staying in bed late and he enjoyed staying in it with her too. He hoped he would be able to enjoy that again one day with someone but he had not so far. He had met Julie around Christmas but she was almost as afraid of relationships as he was. They had celebrated New Year's with Jo and her family. He had thrown the party this time and invited Jo and her family to come and he and Julie had had a great time. Now, it was snowing and they were all shut in…at least for now.

Mac thought about that call he had gotten from Howard Bailey last night. He had not thought about Bailey for a few weeks. He had been too busy with his last case to think about Bailey or his crazy ideas of dominance. He remembered when they were in the Marines and how Bailey was always competing with people. He wanted to be better at everything and he was hostile when he was not better, and he was always drinking. Mac figured if he could have left the bottle alone, Bailey would have been a good soldier. He finally got into trouble when he was drunk on duty.

Mac wondered what Bailey intended to do. He thought surely he would not come to the office or his apartment. He would be seen if he did something like that. Mac knew Bailey was going to be sneaky about it and he was going to try and find him alone. He would not be afraid of the guy but he did not want to get involved in something else like he was in over in Montana. It had been so cold over there, he would have frozen to death if Danny and the others had not found him.

Mac got out of bed and went into the kitchen. He supposed he would just make his own breakfast this morning. He had not done that in quite a while either. He looked in the refrigerator and thought maybe he should have gone to the store before this snowstorm started. He would just make an omelet. He took out the eggs and everything he needed for the omelet and went over to the stove. He put a skillet on the stove and started cutting up the ingredients he intended to put in with the eggs. He liked to cut the peppers and everything up very small. He got all that cut up and then put the eggs into the skillet and then poured all the ingredients over it and salt and pepper. He liked omelets but he hardly ever ate one since he usually ate on the run. He would probably be stuck in the apartment most of the day so he would just work out some and maybe dust the apartment. He was hardly at home so he did not clean very often.

After breakfast, Mac got the newspaper from outside his door. He looked up and down the hall as he thought he saw someone go around the corner but it was very quiet in the hallway. He closed the door and went to the sofa. He turned the TV on and then started reading the paper. The weather report was the front page news. He had seen blizzards before but it had been a while since he saw it like this where the wind and snow was keeping everyone in. The snowstorm was the story on the TV too. He sipped his coffee as he relaxed on the sofa. He read all the paper and then sat there wondering what he could do next. Mac realized he was used to being on the move all the time. He would be bored stiff if he had to stay home all day.

Mac paced back and forth looking out the windows at the snow piling up on his balcony. He went and took a shower and then put on a sweat suit. He would just work out for a while and maybe he would not feel so bored. While he was working out, the phone rang. He got the phone off the nightstand. "Taylor," he answered.

"Mac, how you doing on this day off?" Don asked.

"I'm bored. What are you doing?"

"I'm sitting here watching TV and there's nothing on."

"I noticed."

"We can go back in when the snow lets up."

"Yeah, I know…if we can even get there."

"It seems to be slacking off a little," Don said. "What can you say about someone who misses their job when they get a day off?"

"They're in the right profession?"

"Well, I guess that could be right."

Mac stretched sideways. "Well, I have to go. You interrupted my workout."

"Maybe I'll do a strenuous workout to take out some of the boredom," Don said.

"Good bye, Don."

"Bye."

Mac ended that call and got back to his workout. He would get to the office later…or maybe he would go and see Julie instead of going to the office. He had not been to see her since New Year's Eve. He was trying not to be too frequent with his visits so she would not think he was moving too fast. He frowned at that, wondering if it would ever work with her. She seemed to be so cautious about their relationship he felt like he could not get close to her.

Just as Mac was finishing his workout, his doorbell rang. He went to the door and was surprised that Julie was there. "How did you get here?" he asked.

"I wanted to see you," Julie replied.

"Come on in."

Julie went in and Mac took her coat. "I'm surprised you made it here," Mac said. "You should have told me you were coming."

"Then I couldn't have surprised you," Julie replied.

They stared at each other a moment. "Well, why don't we have some coffee," Mac suggested.

"Sounds great."

"Or we could have some hot chocolate."

"Even better."

They went into the kitchen and Mac began fixing the chocolate. "So, did you have a very difficult time getting here?" he asked.

"I took a cab," Julie said.

"How deep is the snow?"

"At least a foot. It was quite a ride here."

"I can imagine. I was thinking of coming to see you when it slacked off."

"I just thought it would be cozy to sit and watch the snowfall together."

Mac got the ingredients into the pan to make chocolate and then he sat down at the table across from Julie. "I may have to go into the office later today," he said.

"In this freezing weather?" Julie asked.

"Well, there is always paperwork to do."

"Have you ever investigated a murder in weather like this?"

"I have had to go out in the snow to investigate one or two."

"More than one or two?"

Mac smiled. "Yeah, there have been quite a few. I guess it's more annoying to go out in that freezing cold weather to do that than when it's hot. You're standing there with your hands half frozen wondering how you're going to pick up anything and the body is mostly frozen too."

Julie reached and took Mac's hand in hers. Mac leaned on the table and held her hand. "Your hand is cold," he said.

"You're so warm," Julie replied. "You didn't kiss me when I got here."

Mac was not sure what to say to that. He had not thought she wanted him to kiss her. He had only kissed her on the cheek for New Year's. "Well, we can fix that, "he said. He moved around beside her and kissed her lightly.

"I think we've known each other long enough to do better than that," Julie whispered.

Just then, Mac smelled the chocolate. "I better check on that," he said. "We don't want it to scorch."

"Right."

Mac went over to the stove. He was more confused now than he had been when she wanted to break it off with him after their second date. He had been trying to just see her as a friend. Now he was starting to get nervous…but why? He stirred the chocolate and it was ready so he poured it into cups for them and then went back to the table. "We can watch TV while we drink it," he said.

"Sure," Julie replied. "Do you have marshmallows?"

"I do."

Mac got some marshmallows and put them into her chocolate. He did not like them in his so they went into the living room and he turned the TV on. They sat down on the sofa and Mac tasted his chocolate. "Tastes pretty good," he said.

"It's delicious," Julie said. She snuggled closer to Mac. "I'm sorry if I made you think I was pushing you away."

Mac looked at her. "I didn't really think you were pushing me away. I just thought you wanted to be cautious until we got to know each other better."

"There's a reason for that, Mac."

"And what is that?"

"Well, I don't really know how to tell you."

Mac set his chocolate down. "Just tell me," he said. "I'm a pretty understanding person."

"Yes, and I have a great time with you."

"You know, things people do in the past don't really tell who they are now. I may have done things in my past that would surprise you."

"Like what?" Julie asked.

"I don't know. Who knows what might surprise another person?"

"You were married a long time. Your wife didn't care about your past, did she?"

"We met when we were pretty young. She had had a son and gave him up for adoption and that didn't matter to me."

"She never looked for him?"

"He was already with a family and she didn't want to mess up his life like that. She knew he was having a good life. He found me a few years ago and didn't know his mother was dead. It was pretty sad."

"I guess so. You wait all that time to see your mother and then you find out she…"

"Yeah, and no grave either."

Mac sipped his chocolate again. "Mac, do you like sex?" Julie asked.

Mac almost strangled on his drink. He had certainly not expected that question. He spilled some of the chocolate on his leg. Since he still had on the sweat pants, it did not burn him. "I didn't mean to startle you," Julie said.

Mac looked at her and cleared his throat again. "We go from being just friends to talking about this?" he asked. "That's kinda startling."

Julie moved closer to him and kissed him passionately. Mac felt her hand on his thigh. He tried to back away from her but he was against the back of the sofa so he pushed her up. "Wait a minute," he said. "Is this why you came over here?"

"I wanted to be stranded with you while the snow falls," Julie said. She pulled the band off the end of her braid and let her hair down and then she put her arms around his neck and kissed him again. "I used to love sex when I was younger."

Mac was surprised by this revelation even more than he had been surprised by the question. "Really?" he asked. "Well, how much did you love it?" He was starting to get uncomfortable.

"I have to admit, I was kinda an addict," Julie admitted.

"Oh." Mac thought he did not want to go on with his conversation.

"I had sex with just about every man on the base, every single one, that is, and some married ones."

"Julie I don't think I want to hear all this," Mac said.

"Why not? Don't you want to know about me?"

"Well, I think some things are better left unsaid."

"I never had any STD's or got pregnant. We always used birth control."

Mac wanted to get off that couch but he did not want to just shove her and she was climbing over into his lap. "You must be pretty desperate after all these years," Julie whispered.

"No I'm not," Mac replied. "Get off me now."

"I'll just bet I could satisfy every desire you have."

"Julie, this is not happening today."

"Why not?"

Julie kissed him again and then Mac felt something stick into his side. He shoved her off then and she landed on the sofa. She was laughing as she fell onto her back. Mac jumped up off the sofa and realized there was a syringe sticking in his side. He jerked it out but it was too late. Whatever had been in it was already in his body. "What did you give me!" he demanded.

"You're so gullible!" Julie said as she lay there and watched him.

Mac felt his heartbeat racing and he thought of his phone which was in his bedroom. He started toward the bedroom but he could not walk straight. He finally fell in the floor and could not move. Julie knelt in the floor beside. "Nighty, night, Detective," she said.

Julie dragged Mac into the bedroom and got him onto the bed. Then she got her cell phone. "I have him," she said.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be," the person on the other end of the line said.

"I told you I could get him. Not that I enjoyed it." She looked at Mac and touched his face. "I think I could have had a nice life with him."

"Don't be stupid. He would never want you after he found out what you really are."

"You're just lucky he took the bait."

"Why wouldn't he? He's a man."

"I want him."

"You can't have him. I'll be there soon and we'll get him out of there."

"Hurry up before I change my mind."

"You won't. You know when you've got it good."

Julie ended the call and looked at Mac. She stroked his hair and face and thought he was very handsome. She had not wanted to deceive him like that…it was the reason that she had wanted to break it off with him but then he had come back to her house and she had figured he would keep coming around. She wondered why he had come back after she gave him the cold shoulder like that. What could he possibly see in her? She stood up and looked at him as she paced to the end of the bed and back. She would like to see what was under those clothes. She thought it would be a while before her partner arrived so maybe she would take a look.


	2. Chapter 2

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I hope you will send reviews. :) Thanks for reading. miss37**

Julie was sitting on the sofa in the living room when the doorbell rang. She went to the door and looked out. It was who she had expected. She was sure no one else would be out in this weather yet, but the snow was starting to slack off and then they would be in more danger of someone seeing them. She opened the door and Howard Bailey came in. "So, how's my little tiger?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Julie replied. "You can go in there and get him."

"You aren't going to help me?"

"Do I have to?"

"No, but you could."

They went into the bedroom. "He has a nice, big bed, doesn't he?" Julie asked.

"You didn't undress him, did you?" Howard asked.

"I only looked."

"Don't worry, we'll get reacquainted when we get him where we're going."

"What about the cameras? You know an upscale place like this is going to have security cameras."

"Don't worry about that. You know I don't have to worry about security cameras."

"Yes, you're just prepared for everything, aren't you?"

"Of course."

They got Mac into the laundry cart that Howard had brought in. "Go look in the hallway and make sure no one is out there," Howard said. "They won't be suspicious seeing you out there, but if we're out there together with this, they will."

"I'll wait for you at the elevator," Julie replied.

Julie went to the front door and put her coat on. She opened the door slightly and looked out. There was no one in the hall so she motioned for Howard to come on. She went out the door and watched as he came to the door and then she went on down the hall to the elevator. Howard left the room and closed the door. The elevator was just opening when Howard got there and he got in with Julie. "I hope we can get out of here without anyone seeing us," Julie said. "If they see us together, that's all they'll need to know that we took Mac."

"I don't think anyone is going to be out right now. We should be able to get out of here with no trouble."

The elevator doors opened at the parking garage and they went out to a black van that was there waiting for them in a parking area. There were two other men there to help them. They got Mac out of the laundry cart and into the van and then put the laundry cart back out into the garage. "Wait for me. I'll be right back," Howard said. He got out of the van and went to the elevator.

"Where is he going?" one of the other men asked.

"He knows what he's doing, Stan," Julie said. "Just relax. No one is going to see what we have in this van."

Howard soon came back and got into the van. "Now, let's go," he said.

When Mac woke up, he first thought he was in bed at home but as he opened his eyes, he realized he was not. He looked around him. He was in a bed but he was…somewhere besides home. He thought a moment and then remembered what had happened. He sat up and looked around the room again. It was a bedroom with nothing but a bed, a table and a chair. He looked out the window and realized he was not on the ground floor. He went over to the window and looked out. He was on the second floor of a house. He was still wearing his sweat suit but he did not have on any shoes.

Mac rubbed his hair and face. He remembered being on the sofa with Julie and then she seemed to go berserk. He had wanted to get away from her but she had stabbed him with a needle. He went over to the door of the room but it was locked. He banged on the door. "Let me out of here!" he yelled. "Let me out of here!"

Mac heard the door unlocking and Julie came in. Mac glared at her. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked. "You can't hold me in here like this!"

"You must be kidding," Julie replied.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I just had to help a friend of mine, and I think you're handsome." She tried to touch his chest, but Mac backed away. "You can run from me if you want but you won't run later."

"Julie, what can you possibly hope to gain by this?"

"I just like men."

Mac frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Well, after my 'friend' gets done with you, I get to keep you."

Mac stared at her a moment. "You're crazy," he said.

"Crazy about you."

Mac could not believe he had asked this woman out. Why did he not realize she had a problem? He thought this would be the most ridiculous mistake he had ever made. "You're going to give up your job at the college?" he asked.

"That job as a librarian? Nobody likes librarians," Julie said. "You didn't even want anything to do with me at first, but well, my partner said you would be a little gullible."

"I am not gullible. I thought you were a nice woman and I wanted to take you out. You didn't have to do all this."

"Are you telling me that you would have ever wanted to get serious about me?"

"I don't know. We were just getting started."

"You don't date women like me."

"What did you think I was doing?"

"It just wasn't what it looked like. You felt sorry for me because you didn't want to hurt my feelings."

Mac sighed. "Who are you working with?" he asked. "What is this all about?"

"He'll let you know when he's ready to."

Julie turned to leave the room and Mac followed her. She turned with a gun in her hand. "Don't try anything," she said.

Mac frowned. "I can't believe you're doing this," he said.

"You better start believing it. You're in for the long haul."

Julie left the room and Mac looked out the window again. There was snow piled up out there. He could not get out this window even if he broke it because it had bars on it and they were secured with a lock. He thought it looked like this house was out in the middle of nowhere and there was a large building out to the side that looked like a barn. A barn?

Mac went over to the bed and sat down to think. Who could Julie be working with? He had dug up her past and she had told him some things…if any of that were true. He was not sure now. She had said she was in the military before…

Mac frowned. The military. He shook his head. How could she know Howard Bailey? He had not even been in the same branch, but he knew that sometimes personnel serve on bases of other branches. Could she have met Howard Bailey? Why would she agree to do something like this? She had been working at the college as the librarian. What was her possible motive? He could not think of anything. He had never even seen or heard of Julie Branem until he met her while he was investigating the rape and murder of Anna Clausman. She could not have known that he would come to that library…or did she? Mac shook his head…no, all this could not be connected. Harvey Toller had killed those women and he was sitting in prison now. Had Toller ever been in the military? Mac certainly did not remember serving with him anywhere. That would be ridiculous. Why would he give up his tenure as a teacher at that University to go to prison for a rape and murder? And besides that, his wife had been divorcing him. Mac shook his head. No, this had nothing to do with Harvey Toller. He thought Julie must have been in touch with Howard Bailey when he walked into that library and their plan sprang into action then. But why did she act like she wanted to break it off with him? He had a lot of unanswered questions.

Mac paced around the room and then went to the bathroom. He did not know how long he had been here, but his bladder knew it had been a while. He wondered if it was the next day, or the same day that Julie had showed up at his apartment. He supposed they would let him know soon.

Don Flack was at the precinct. He had braved the cold to get down there and that cold was the coldest he had felt in years. He was surprised to see Jamie there. "You mean you got out in this weather to come to work?" Don asked.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you did," Jamie replied.

"Is Mac here?"

"I haven't seen him."

"He probably won't come in. I think he wants to spend more time with that new girlfriend of his."

Jamie leaned on Don's desk as he sat down. "And what's wrong with that?" she asked.

"Nothing at all," Don said.

"You could have come and spent some time with me."

"But you're here."

Jamie smiled. "I guess we're both addicted to this job. Why don't we make a date for tonight?" she asked.

"In this weather?"

"I didn't say anything about going out."

Don smiled. "Hey, sounds good to me."

"Be at my place at eight tonight."

"I'll be there…if, you know…"

"Yes, I know."

Don watched Jamie walk away from his desk. "Sexy," he commented.

Jamie looked over her shoulder at him. "I heard that," she said.

Don reached for a pen so he could work on some paperwork. He was glad everyone was staying in right now because he did not want to go out in that freezing weather to look at a crime scene. After that last case they had, he thought he could get through the rest of the year without one. He was just glad he had a hard head and did not sustain any permanent damage.

Later that day, Don watched out the window as the snow plows were working on the roads. The snow was piled up on the sides of the streets and they would have to haul some of it away in trucks. Don was still amazed by that even though he had seen deep snow before. He supposed no matter how much snow a person saw in life, there would still be a little magic in it if they looked for it.

Don decided he would go up and see where Mac was. He thought he would have come in and they would be going home again tonight since the temperature would drop drastically again and even more snow would fall. Don shivered at the thought. He would be glad when this Arctic blast was over even though it would still be cold…it was nothing compared to this.

Don went up to the lab, but there were not very many people there. Danny was there but Mac was not. "Where's Mac?" Don asked.

"I don't know," Danny replied. "I'm just finishing up some DNA samples we had and going to do some paperwork, take some paperwork home so Lindsay and I can lay there in bed and watch the baby bounce up and down in her belly while we work."

Don smiled. "That must be nice," he said.

"It is."

"I thought Mac was going to come in."

"Maybe he decided to take the day off and get some rest."

"It's a good time for it. I'm going home soon. I'm going to Jamie's tonight and do a little cuddling myself."

"So when are you going to take the plunge? Marriage is something good."

"Yeah," Don said thoughtfully. "You just have to make sure you find the right one."

Danny did not want to say too much about that. He knew how much it had hurt Don when Jessica Angell died. He had been there in the hallway with him. "Well, I don't know where Mac is, and he hasn't called," Danny said.

"Alright," Don replied. "Be careful when you leave."

"I will."

Don went back to the elevator. He thought about calling Mac again but he thought he probably should not. He would just drive home slowly and make sure there was nothing going on out there that should not be.

As Don was driving home, there were a few people out but they were not walking much. He thought they were just watching the snow plows. The snow was too deep to walk until it had been removed. Don smiled as he saw kids out playing in that snow. He remembered when he got out in freezing cold weather to play with the snow. He did not know how he stood that freezing air. He went on home and just as he got in the door, his phone rang.

"Flack," Don answered.

"Don, we have a robbery in progress," Jamie said. "I'm sending you the address."

"Okay, I'll be there."

Don put his coat back on. He figured these people thought they could get away before the cops could get there since they could not drive very fast on this ice and snow. That problem would soon be remedied however, when the snow plows got done. He went back out to his car, thankful that it had not had time to freeze over yet and headed for the address that Jamie had sent him which was the Sparkling Diamond jewelry shop.

Jamie was waiting for Don when he arrived. "So, what happened?" Don asked.

"The burglar alarm came on and alerted the police department," Jamie said. "We contacted the owner." She pointed at the outside window. "It looks like they threw an ice ball through the window."

Don looked in the window and saw that there was indeed a packed, hard snowball lying in the floor of the jewelry store. And it was melting. "I guess we better get some pictures of that," he said. "I'll call Danny. He probably hasn't left the lab yet. Anything taken?"

"We won't know until the owner gets here," Jamie said. "This could have been just an accident."

"Yeah. You're right. They might have grabbed something out of this window while they had a chance though."

"Anyone who is out here today is going to be wearing gloves."

Don nodded. "Right."

Soon the owner arrived and he was upset that someone had broken the window out of his shop, and he was furious that there was a melting snowball in the floor too. "Thomas Indigo," Jamie said to Don. "He's the owner."

"Charming guy," Don replied sarcastically.

Don and Jamie finally got the man to assess what had been taken. There was a gold watch missing that was worth 500 dollars. Don took down the serial number and description of the watch. He knew they would be lucky if they found it. They had no way of knowing who had thrown the ice ball. They would have to ask a few neighbors and see if they knew what happened. It would probably take the rest of the day to do that.

Mac was sitting on the bed in his prison room when someone came in again. Julie was there with a tray for him. "I guess you're hungry," she said.

Mac just stared at her. "Where are we?" he asked.

"I'm not telling you that."

"Why?"

"I'm just not." She set the tray on the table. "Enjoy."

"How do I know you're not poisoning me?"

"Because he wants you healthy."

"Howard Bailey," Mac said to see her reaction.

Julie stared at him with a frown. "How did you know?" she asked.

"I'm a detective."

"You sure are."

"Why don't you tell him that I am not fighting him again?" Mac said. "I have no intention of giving in to this stupidity again."

"If you don't fight, he'll kill you."

"So? I'm not going to live here like this being forced to fight."

"You would rather die?"

"I don't want to die but I am not going to be fighting and staying in pain all the time either."

Julie just looked at him a moment. "He is so jealous of you," she said. "I can see why."

Mac frowned. "Don't even think that you can get anywhere with me now," he said.

"Who said I would want to? Although you have a nice body."

"Get out."

"I just had to take a peek while you were out but I tried not to touch."

Mac glared at her. "If you're trying to embarrass me, you're failing."

Julie was starting to get angry. "You sure are confident in yourself."

"I wouldn't say that, but I won't be intimidated by you or him either."

"We'll see, won't we?"

"You will see and if Howard Bailey wants to talk to me, he needs to come in here himself instead of sending you."

"You want me to tell him that?"

"Go ahead!"

Julie realized that Mac was not frightened at all by his situation. Did he think he would escape from them? Did he think his friends would find him? "You can't escape, you know."

"Don't bet on it," Mac replied. "Are you going so I can eat in peace?"

"You're a real jerk."

Mac smiled slightly. "I would rather be a jerk than give in to you," he said.

That infuriated Julie and she wanted to slap him but she just went to the door. "You'll be sorry," she said.

"Why?" Mac asked. "Are you going to tell your boyfriend?"

Julie went on out the door and Mac smiled as he was satisfied with her anger. Angry people made mistakes.


	3. Chapter 3

Mac finished eating and then stood by the window. There was no clue as to where they were. He did notice there was not as much snow here as in the city. He did not know how long he had been here. He had been out and they could have kept him out a long time. However, he did not feel like he had been here a long time.

Mac paced around the room. He wondered if they were watching him. He looked up at the heater vent but it was too small for him to fit in. He looked at his bare feet and thought they must have taken his shoes because they thought that would keep him from running away…and they were right. He would definitely be hunting some shoes before he tried to get out of here. He wondered how Howard Bailey had acquired this house but he figured it was probably Julie's. She had told him that she inherited her parents' house since she was the only child. He did not know where that house was though.

As night was falling, Mac heard someone unlocking the door again. He waited to see who it was. This time, Bailey came in with Julie. Mac glared at them both but he could not help but notice that Bailey was limping slightly. "You think you won that fight, don't you?" Bailey asked.

"Anybody who saw it would say I won that fight," Mac replied.

Bailey stared at Mac with his hard blue eyes. "You've always thought you were the best at everything."

"No I haven't!" Mac declared. "It's you who think you have to be the best at everything."

"We'll see who's the best."

"I'm not fighting you, Bailey."

"Who said anything about fighting? How's your endurance?"

Mac frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see. Now you better eat up."

Julie was smiling a smirky smile, which made Mac even angrier. "Is this how you show her you're a man…by kidnapping me and forcing me to compete with you?" Mac asked.

Julie looked furious. "Are you going to let him talk to you like that?" she asked.

"He won't talk long," Howard said. "He just wants to make us mad."

"Hit him or something!"

Howard looked at Mac who looked like he always did: confident and unafraid. "He's not just going to stand there and let me hit him," Bailey said. "We'd have to fight and I'm not in the mood right now."

Julie set the tray down on the table. "Then I'll do it," she said suddenly. She punched Mac before he realized what she was doing.

Mac wiped blood off his nose and glared at them. "You letting a woman fight for you now?" he asked.

Julie was fighting mad and she started to come at Mac again but Bailey grabbed her. "Now, you just settle down, Tiger," he said.

Julie jerked her arms out of his hands. "Why don't you want to fight him?" she asked.

"Because I have other ideas first."

"First?"

Bailey looked at Mac. "Yeah, I've got other plans for him."

Mac did not say anything but he wondered what he meant by that, and he realized that Julie had a lot of rage inside. He thought Bailey must not mind it though. They headed out the door. "You better eat up, Taylor," Bailey said. "We begin tomorrow."

"Begin what?" Mac demanded.

"Just be patient. Julie and I have to get reacquainted tonight. We'll try to keep it down."

Julie laughed as they went on out the door. Mac rolled his eyes and looked at the tray of food they had brought for him. He supposed he was hungry. He sat down at the table and started eating. Then he heard something on the other side of the wall and he realized something was bumping against the wall.

Mac stopped chewing a moment when he heard Julie yell, "Oh yes!" And she continued to yell shouts of pleasure.

Mac frowned as he realized they were trying to taunt him by having sex on the other side of the wall. He figured they did not know what all he had seen and heard over the years. He finished eating and went over to the window to look out. He could feel the cold at the window. He knew it was incredibly cold out there. He decided to just go to bed. He could still hear Howard and Julie on the other side of the wall. He thought they must have taken some enhancement drugs to keep going that long or they just wanted him to think they were still going at it.

Mac lay there in the bed and looked toward the window. He could see the moon out there. It made him shiver to think of how cold it was out there with no clouds. He heard that bed bang against the wall again and then Julie laughed loudly and then screamed, "Woohooo!"

Mac rolled his eyes. He was sleepy…

Mac was awakened during the night by a loud banging noise. He listened a moment and realized he was hearing that on the other side of the wall again. He thought she ought to be getting sore by now. Mac rubbed his face. "Shut up, Taylor," he said to himself. He rolled over and went back to sleep.

The next morning, Mac felt cold even in the bed, but someone was coming into the room. He sat up as Julie came in. "Did you sleep well?" she asked. "Sorry if we kept you up."

"I slept like a log," Mac replied. He saw that anger in her eyes again and he tried not to smile his smug smile.

Julie threw a bag at him. "You better bet ready in thirty minutes!" she said. Then she threw another bag at him.

She left the room and Mac looked in the bag. There was a heavy coat in the bag, and other layers of clothes and boots. Mac frowned as he thought about what this could mean. Did they intend to put him out in the cold? Endurance. Bailey had said something about endurance. Mac took all the clothes out and then looked in the backpack. There was water in there, as well as hand and foot warmers and a compass. There was also a map.

Mac did not know what to do but he certainly did not want to be thrown out like he was so he put the other clothes on. He knew this would make them think he was cooperating or afraid but he knew they were cruel and they would do whatever they could to make him miserable.

Mac went over to the window and looked out. Even just looking out he could tell it was bitterly cold out there. What were they planning to do to him? He wished he could find a way out but there was only one way out of this room and that was right through that door.

Mac went over to the door and looked at the hinges. They were held by door nails and if he could get those door nails out, he could take the door off the hinges…and then what? What would he do if he got the door off? He supposed he could run for it and hope they would not shoot him in the back. He looked around the room and realized there was a fork on the tray that they had brought last night. He got the fork to see if it would work to take the door nails out. He put the backpack on and fastened it tight. Then he went over to the door and pushed one prong of the fork up into the hinge where the door nail was. The top door nail slid out easily. Mac knew that one would always come out easy but the others would be harder because they were taking all the weight of the door. The middle door nail had to have a little encouragement to move, and the bottom one was even worse, but Mac managed to get it out too. Now the door was only being held by the knob and the lock on it. Mac used the fork to pull the door out of the doorway from the hinge side.

Mac peered down the hall as he got the door out enough to see. He did not see anyone in the hall but he knew they were there somewhere. He went on out into the hall and went to the left. He looked around the end of that corner and did not see anyone that way either and there was a door on that end. Mac hurried down that hallway and then stopped when he got to the door. There was one small window in that door and he looked out. There was a truck outside the building but there was someone standing beside it with a gun. Mac had no weapons of any kind but he thought maybe he could trick that guy to coming over to this door.

Mac watched the guy at the truck for a moment and then he pushed on the handle that opens the door and pushed back and forth to make it seem like he could not get the door open. The guy at the truck looked that way and then he started over that way. Mac waited until he got up to the door and then he kicked the door open and knocked the guy down. Mac jumped out the door and kicked the guy in the face before he could get up and try to get his gun again. He grabbed the gun and ran for the truck. Unfortunately the key was not in the truck, but Mac knew he could not take the time to try and find it so he ran for the van that was sitting further out in the driveway. The key was in there but the van was locked and it had one of those combination locks.

Mac thought this was not going to work out if he could not find any transportation and now he knew that he had been right about the cold. It was freezing out there! And the wind was blowing which made it even worse. He pulled the hood up over his head and ran out toward the other building there on the property. It was not easy to run with all the snow which came up above his ankles. He was surprised that he made it to the barn but then he heard some chaos up at the house. He got on into the barn and found that there was a pickup in there but there were no keys. He did not know what to do next but he would go out the back door of the barn. If he had to, he would just walk out of here. He knew they would know where he went by his footprints because he had left plenty in that snow out there.

Julie and Howard had come out of the house. "I can't believe you let him get away!" Julie yelled.

"Me?" Howard asked. "I didn't let him get away!"

"You should have crippled him!"

"Why? He couldn't be equal competition with an injury!"

"He damaged your knee in that fight. You could have at least paid him back for that!"

"There's no time for this argument now! We have to find him!"

"He couldn't get far!" Julie looked out toward the barn. "That's where he is!" she said. "There are prints going that way!"

"We've all been out there at some time or other!" Howard said.

They looked at the prints and could tell that they had been made since the snowfall the night before so they got weapons and headed out to the barn…

Mac was going out the back door of the barn wishing that he had some other way of getting out of this besides going through this freezing cold but he did not see any other way and he knew they must have figured out that he was in this barn. He went on out the door and headed out toward the woods which were not far away. He got out into the trees and started walking fast. He did not want to run because if he ran, he might start sweating and then that could freeze on him…and that would not be good.

Howard and Julie went into the barn with their weapons ready. They checked the truck and the loft but of course, Mac was not there. "He must have gone out the back door!" Julie said.

"Don't worry, he won't get far in this cold," Howard replied.

"I thought you were going to throw him out in the cold anyway."

"I was, but he's going away rather than coming this way. He can't get out that wall. It's electrified, you know."

"You're always overconfident. That's how you got beat up the last time."

"I made a lot of money off that fight! If I hadn't, you wouldn't have this place now, so stop nagging me."

"Nagging?" Julie was angry at that. "I don't see the purpose in this anyway. Why not just let him go?"

"Let him go? What do you think he's going to do if he gets away? He's going to get his team together and they are going to hunt us down like dogs, and we'll have to leave from here."

Julie cocked the rifle she had. "Then there's just one thing to do," she said. "Kill him."

"How do you think I've stayed out of prison so far?" Howard asked. "I haven't resorted to murder."

"Then you shouldn't have brought him here."

"He wasn't supposed to get away! It's not my fault he got away!"

"Come on, we're wasting time!"

They made sure they had everything they needed and then got in the pickup to go after Mac. They would not freeze out there in those woods.

Mac could hear a vehicle coming through a trail in the woods. He was freezing. He had already stopped and put the foot warmers in his boots and put the hand warmers in his gloves. That helped a little but not much. His face felt numb even though he had the hood over his head. At least the clothes he was wearing were camouflaged. He wondered why they gave him camouflaged clothes but whatever their plans had been, he was going to get away from here if he could. He hid as he heard the vehicle getting closer to where he was. He watched the pickup from the barn go by. They were hunting him but they went on by.

Mac wondered if they knew where he would come out. He had to think of something or he would freeze to death out here in these woods. He looked back toward the house. There had been another person there and he did not know whether there were others. He had only seen the one, however. He did not know if he should got back toward that house or if he should keep going the way he was going. If he went back there, he might elude them long enough to get some help if there was a phone there. Did he dare take the chance? He might hide there somewhere, and maybe he would not freeze to death until he could find a way out.

Mac made his decision to go back to the house. He did not see anything else he could do. He was glad there was a layer of pine straw in these woods and his prints would not show so easily. As he went back to the barn, he tried to stay in the same prints he made before. He just hoped his luck did not run out…


	4. Chapter 4

Mac got back into the barn and closed the door. There was a window at the side of the barn with a good view of the house. Mac leaned against the wall beside the window and looked out. He did not see any movement but he knew there was at least one person there. Then he realized there was a cellar entrance at the side of the house with big green doors.

Mac looked around the barn and finally, he found it…a door to the cellar. Then he heard something…it was the pickup coming back. Mac got the door up and there were stairs going down. He went down into the cellar, glad that the door was hidden well. He heard them drive into the barn, and then he heard the doors slam.

"I can't believe you let him get away!" Julie yelled.

"John's out there watching the wall!" Bailey replied. "If he sees him, he'll either capture him or shoot him."

"That's always your answer to everything! Why I ever let myself get mixed up in this I'll never know!"

"You wanted to capture him too! Just so you could look at him!"

"He wasn't supposed to get away!"

Mac went on down into the cellar, going slowly to make sure he did not make noise. It was very dark in the cellar but he had a flashlight in the backpack. He turned the flashlight on and found that it was very dusty in the cellar and there were ancient jars of canned food on the shelves…at least Mac though they were ancient. He looked at labels on the jars and wiped the dust off. _Canned: 2012_

Mac was puzzled now. Who had canned this stuff? It was probably still good to eat. Food like this could be kept at least two years. He was not sure how long but he was still wondering who canned it and for what purpose. Why had it been down here this long? And how did Julie and Howard get this place?

Mac was starting to wonder just what kind of person Julie was. How did she fool him like that? Was she a pathological liar? She had even fooled Jo.

Mac looked around the cellar and found an old lantern, but it was not a lantern with oil, although there were two of those too. But this one had batteries that and LED lights in it. He knew now that it could not have been long since this was used, but it was very dusty, so it had been a while. He turned the lantern on and it worked. He began searching around the cellar because he knew there had to be an entrance to this cellar that went to the house.

Mac finally found what he was looking for. It was an old plank door that went into a tunnel. He went into the tunnel staring around at the walls which were concrete. He continued down the tunnel until he got to another door that went into the other part of the cellar under the house. He could see the doors that led outside and also there were stairs that led up to a trapdoor. Mac wondered what room that trapdoor opened into.

There was no way to know what room it went into but there was more canned food here. However, it was all dusty and Mac did not see where any jars had been sitting, so that meant no one had been taking anything out. Did they even know the cellar was here?

Just then, Mac heard someone walking around on the floor above him. He listened and could hear that Howard and Julie were still arguing…

"Julie, I don't want him killed," Howard said.

"What's the big deal?" Julie asked. "Nobody even knows he's gone yet. By the time they do, the trail will have grown cold and they won't know what happened to him."

"You sound like you've done this before."

"Well, let's just say my name hasn't always been Julie."

"Oh really?"

"Sure."

"So, you're a dangerous woman."

"I'll show you how dangerous I can be."

Mac could hear that they were going at it again, but he was more concerned about what Julie had said. She had done this before? Her real name was not Julie Brannem?" Who was she? And who had she killed? He had not taken her fingerprints during the investigation so it would not have shown up on anything. Mac had the feeling that Julie never left any fingerprints. He wondered how many people she had killed. There were a lot of unsolved murders in the country. Was anything she had told him true? How did she get Howard into this? He had not murdered anyone but he had known her before…sometime.

Mac sat there in the cellar in an old chair wondering what he should do next. She had been right when she said no one was missing him yet. He had told Don that he was going to spend some time with Julie. That had been…yesterday…he thought. Would they think he had decided to just stay with her? He had told Don that he would be in that evening. Surely Don would think it was strange that he was not there. At least he was not freezing. If he had to stay down here too long, maybe he would eat some of those canned tomatoes. They had not even given him breakfast this morning anyway.

The next morning, Don went in to work. The streets had been cleared and most things were back to GO. There were some things that were still at STOP but as for the police department, it was going. Don sat at his desk and looked at some reports that he had to take care of. He saw a young man come into the precinct looking kinda nervous but Don just went back to his paperwork.

After a few minutes, Don heard someone say "Excuse me".

Don looked up into the face of the young man who had come in the door. "Can I help you?" Don asked.

"I have something I need to tell you."

"What's your name?"

"Billy. Billy Taylor."

"Alright, Billy Taylor, have a seat here."

Billy sat down in the chair beside Don's desk. "What's on your mind?" Don asked.

"I know who broke the window at the jewelry store yesterday," Billy said.

Don looked at him a moment. "You do? Who was it?"

Billy looked down and then looked at Don. "It was me, but it was an accident. We were throwing snowballs and one of them went through the window."

"And you helped yourself to a watch?"

From the look on Billy's face, Don knew he did not steal the watch. "I didn't steal anything," Billy said.

"Who was with you out there?" Don asked. "Someone stole a watch out of that window, and it was worth five hundred dollars. You know what that means?"

"No."

"I means someone just committed grand theft."

Billy swallowed hard. "I didn't steal anything," he said. "I just ran away."

"Who was with you?"

"Are they going to get into trouble?"

"Don't you think they should?"

Billy considered that. "I guess."

"You're in here confessing to breaking the window and they're out there with a five hundred dollar watch. You think that's fair?"

"James and Todd were with me," Billy said.

"What are their last names?" Don asked.

"Menkin. They're brothers."

Don wrote that down and then looked at Billy. "You're going to have to tell that jewelry store owner about this and we'll see if he wants to press charges for breaking that window," Don said. "And don't go warning your friends. They better have that watch when we find them."

"I'm sorry about that window," Billy said. "It just scared me when the alarm starting sounding and I just ran."

"I guess that's a scary sound. Who told you to come in and confess?"

"No one. I decided on my own."

"You did the right thing but I'm afraid I'm going to have to hold you for a while."

Don hated to hold the kid but he had no choice. It was not every day that he met someone so honest. He had broken a window with a baseball once and had to pay for the window to be fixed. He hoped that jewelry store owner would go easy on this kid but that guy had been a grouch even when they were trying to help him.

Don put Billy into the interrogation room and headed back to his desk and just then, Jo walked in. "Morning, Don," she said.

"Morning," Don replied.

"Have you seen Mac this morning? Or yesterday anytime?"

"No I haven't seen him but I talked to him yesterday morning."

"I thought Mac would be in this morning but he's not."

"He said he might go over and spend some time with his new girlfriend."

"Oh." Jo smiled. "I think he kinda likes her."

"If Mac is taking a day off to stay with her, I would say he likes her."

"It's still strange that he doesn't answer his phone and all I get is the voicemail."

"Maybe he doesn't want to be disturbed."

Jo folded her arms. "Don, when have you ever known Mac to be away from this job without telling someone?" she asked.

Don scowled at that. "Never," he said.

"Right. Go to his apartment and see if he's there."

"What if he's not?"

"You can find out where that Julie woman lives and see if he's there."

"You really think Mac wants us to get on a manhunt for him?"

"We're just trying to make sure he's safe."

"Okay, but if he gets mad, I'm telling him that you did it."

"That's fine. He calls me 'mother' in the most unflattering way anyway."

Don chuckled at that. "Alright, I'll go and see if I can find him. I have to pick up two boys who might have been involved in that jewelry store robbery yesterday. Their friend came in and confessed." He pointed toward the interrogation room. "He's in there."

"You've got him sitting in the interrogation room?" Jo asked. She went over and looked in at the young man. "He's just a kid."

"Yeah. I really think the breaking of the window was an accident, but taking that watch wasn't," Don said.

"Maybe I should go in and talk to him."

"Go ahead. He'll be slapped with a misdemeanor anyway."

"Have you done a background check?"

"That's being run now. I don't think this kid's ever been in here."

"And you're going to give him a criminal record for something like this?"

"Nah. It'll probably be thrown out since he told us who the other two were."

Jo looked at Don. "Go find Mac," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am," Don replied.

Don went out to his car. It was still brutally cold outside but at least he could get around on the roads better now. He drove over to Mac's apartment building and went up to the right floor. He knocked on the door and waited. He knocked again and then tried the knob. To his surprise, it was not locked. Don frowned, knowing that Mac would never leave his door unlocked. He stuck his head in the door. "Mac! Hey, it's me, Don!"

Don did not hear anything so he went on in. "Mac!" He wondered what was going on but he figured Mac just was not here…but that door being unlocked…that was not normal since the door automatically locked when it was closed unless it was made not to.

Don walked on to the bedroom. He frowned when he saw the bedroom. It was just too neat. He hardly ever made his bed but this room was spotless. "You make us all look bad, Mac," Don said. This still did not explain where Mac was though. He thought Mac might come in any minute and ask him what he was doing standing in his bedroom.

Don went back to the front door, still puzzled as to why that door had been unlocked. He made sure it was locked when he left and went back down to the lobby. There was a woman at the desk down there. "Have you seen Mac Taylor this morning," Don asked.

"No," the woman said. "I usually see him when he leaves. He always takes time to say 'hi'."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

The woman thought. "The night before last when he came home. He was talking about the snowstorm and that he would be in all day the next day."

"Okay. Thanks."

Don left that building and called Jo as he got out to his car. "Mac's not at home," he said when Jo answered. "Funny thing, his door was unlocked but he was nowhere in sight and the woman at the first said she had not seen him since night before last."

"Check with his girlfriend," Jo replied.

"Okay."

Don was not sure he was going to find Mac there either. He was starting to get worried. He went on over to Julie's house and knocked on the door. He knocked twice more and started to give up but then the door opened. "Hi," Julie said.

"Is Mac here with you?" Don asked, feeling a little stupid.

"No, he's not. He was here yesterday but he left last night."

"Did he say he was going anywhere?"

"No."

"Thanks."

Don went back out to his car. He thought he had to make another trip to Mac's apartment building. He did not check to see if Mac's Avalanche was in the garage. When he found that the vehicle was there, he called Jo again. "Jo, Mac is not at Julie's and she said he was there yesterday and left last night, but Jo, his Avalanche is here in the parking garage at his apartment."

Jo frowned. "Then where is he?" she asked. "And you said his door was unlocked?"

"Yeah, but nothing in the apartment was disturbed."

"So, what happened?"

"I'll go check in the laundry room of the apartment building while I'm here. Maybe he's doing laundry."

"Good idea. Call me if you don't find him…but that doesn't explain why he's not answering his phone."

"Right."

Don went into the apartment building and found the laundry room in the basement, but there was no sign of Mac of course. Where could he be? This was all a strange situation. Don called Jo and let her know.

Jo was not sure what to do yet. "If his truck is in the parking garage and he's not in his apartment and he's not here…then where is he?" she asked.

"Good question," Don replied.

"I'll get Danny and we'll be there at his apartment soon."

"Alright."

Jo ended the call and called Danny. "Meet me at Mac's apartment," Jo said. "Something's not right."

"I'll be there," Danny replied.

Jo went out and headed for Mac's apartment building. She was starting to wonder about this new girlfriend of Mac's…

Mac thought Julie had left the house. He had heard them talking and then he heard a vehicle outside crank up. He wondered what she was up to now. He thought Howard was the one who was still in the house because he could hear him walking around.

Mac went up the stairs to the door that opened out into the house. He did not hear anything in the room above him now but he thought he could hear someone talking off in another room. He decided he would take the chance and pushed up on the door. It made a sound when it opened which he thought was probably from so long of not being opened. He peeped out and realized the door was under the bed. Mac sighed. He could not open the door far enough to get out that way…or at least he did not think he could. He was not fat, but he was not that skinny. He let the door back down and went back down the stairs. He wondered if the doors that led outside were locked. If they were, he would not have any way of getting out of here unless he went back to the barn. He went over to the doors and found that they were locked on the inside. He slowly pulled the slide bolt back trying to make sure it did not make any noise.

Mac peeped out and could feel the freezing cold air. He did not see anyone outside but he would just have to wait until they were less agitated about him getting away before he tried anything. He had to find some way to get a phone or to get one of those vehicles but if he was seen…he figured he would be doomed unless Howard still wanted to avoid murder.


	5. Chapter 5

**Please send me some reviews and let me know what you think of this chapter. :D Hope you enjoy it. More to come. miss37**

Jo and Danny arrived at Mac's apartment. Danny was expecting to see the apartment in shambles, but it was the opposite. "What are we looking for?" Danny asked.

"I don't know," Jo answered. "Anything that might be out of place. Dust for prints."

Danny looked around the apartment. "Look for something out of place?" He could not see anything at all that looked out of place. "Really?"

"Danny just humor me."

"So, what are we thinking?" Danny asked as he was getting his forensics kit out.

"Maybe he was kidnapped," Jo said.

"Maybe he went to the store?"

"Without his truck?"

"It's not far."

"It's freezing."

"Yeah, but Mac's used to the cold."

Jo stopped and looked at Danny. "Then why is he not answering his phone?" she asked.

"I don't know."

They dusted the apartment for prints. Jo opened the drawer of the nightstand. "I feel like I'm an intruder," she said. She looked in the drawer and found Mac's cell phone which was turned off.

"Where's Mac's weapon? Does he keep it here?"

"I don't know."

"And where is his badge?"

They searched the apartment but did not find Mac's weapon or his badge. "Maybe he just went shopping today or something," Danny suggested. "What's he going to say if he comes home and finds fingerprint dust everywhere?"

"When have you known Mac not to have his phone with him?" Jo asked. "Besides no one's seen him…not even Julie."

"How well do you know her?"

"I don't know her at all. Mac brought her to Christmas dinner."

"Maybe he just forgot his phone. Everyone forgets sometimes. Maybe he took a cab. Maybe he didn't want to take his truck out in the snow and ice."

Jo looked at Danny. "He took it out yesterday according to Julie and she said he left last night. Today, the streets are virtually clear and it's not snowing."

"Right. I'm just trying to figure this out."

"I know. I just want to get this back to the lab and see what we get."

Danny was quiet a moment. "What is odd is that there were no fingerprints on the coffee table. I mean, that seems odd to me."

Jo looked in the kitchen but there were no dirty dishes in the sink or the dishwasher. She thought a dishwasher was pretty useless to a person who lived alone. She looked in the cabinets and nothing looked out of place. She thought maybe they could be overreacting but she was not sure. Something just seemed fishy.

They went back to the lab and ran all the fingerprints they had taken. Of course they were all Mac's prints except they found one that they were surprised by. "Hey, Jo!" Danny said as he was going into Jo's office. "Take a look at this!"

Jo looked at the printout. She frowned as she read it. "This fingerprint is associated with murders in Texas and Oklahoma," she said and looked at Danny. "How did this fingerprint get in Mac's apartment?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I think we ought to look further into this. How well does Mac know this Julie?"

Jo looked at the unidentified fingerprints. "These could be from a woman," she said. "They're small."

"Maybe we should show this to the chief."

"Wait. Get Adam to ask for the details of these murders. We need to know the circumstances."

"Alright."

Danny headed for the computer lab. Jo looked at the printout. If this murderer's fingerprint was in Mac's apartment then that means the murderer had to be there. Jo wanted to know more about Julie. She got her phone and called Don.

"Flack," Don answered.

"Don, I need you to find out everything you can about Julie Brannem, Mac's girlfriend."

"You really think she's up to something?"

"Don, we found fingerprints in Mac's apartment that match fingerprints from several murder cases in Texas and Oklahoma."

"What?! You think they're from that woman?"

"I don't know. We don't have her prints."

Don was flabbergasted. "How could she fool Mac like that?" he asked.

"I don't know but she even fooled me."

"I'll get on this."

Jo hung up the phone. There had been no sign of a struggle in Mac's apartment, not even that anyone sat on the bed. Jo considered that. How does one capture a Marine without a struggle? She just knew that woman, Julie had to have something to do with this. Would she kidnap Mac and then clean up the apartment? Jo remembered something else and went to Mac's office. She looked in all the drawers but she did not find Mac's weapon. She went to the locker room and did not find his weapon there either. There was another thing too…she wanted the surveillance from that apartment building and she had to talk to the woman at the desk in Mac's building too.

As Jo was going back to her office, Adam was coming from the computer lab. "Jo, I requested that information," Adam said. "It should be here tomorrow but it could be here the next day."

"Thanks, Adam. We have another problem or two."

"What?"

"We have to get into Mac's truck to see if his weapon is there."

"How?"

"I don't know. Can't you figure it out? I don't remember even seeing his keys in the apartment."

"Uh…yeah…I'm sure I can figure it out."

"Should be a piece of cake for a technical genius like you."

"Yeah."

"And get the surveillance from the building Mac lives in."

"I'm on it."

Jo walked back to her office. Did Mac keep his weapon anywhere else? She was sure it would not be in the truck. That was not the place for a police weapon. She wondered where that weapon was and where Mac was. For what it looked like, one would think that Mac just walked right out of his apartment on purpose and just did not take his truck. How would they prove otherwise? Then again, there were those fingerprints. Jo knew something was wrong and she would find out what.

Mac sat there in the cellar hearing people walk around above him and he could hear Howard yell occasionally. He thought Julie had come back because he had heard a female voice again and she was the only female he had seen around here. He heard someone come into the room above the door again. "What good do you think that will do?" Julie asked.

"We can frame him," Howard replied.

Mac scowled. How would they frame him? He moved over under the door and listened. He thought he could raise the door a little and they might not know but he would not because it might squeak or something.

"No one is going to believe he did anything against the law," Julie declared. "He's too squeaky clean."

"If we could find him and capture him again, we can make it appear that he has disappeared and committing crimes."

"And just who would Mac Taylor kill?"

"We'll have to figure that out. We have to think it through so we can make it believable even if they think he wouldn't do something like that."

"You're quite a con artist. Are you going to do the killing?"

"No, I thought I would leave that to you," Howard said.

"I guess I do have more experience. But where do we get his fingerprints."

"We have to capture him first."

"And what? Cut his hand off to take with us?"

Mac swallowed hard at that suggestion. He knew Julie was capable of anything now. How would he get out of here? He hoped they would all go out soon so he could get out of here and get some help.

"What's that?" Julie asked.

"What?" Howard asked.

"It looks like a trapdoor."

Mac froze in place as he realized she must be looking under the bed. He hurried to the door that led into this cellar. He closed the door back gently and ran down the tunnel toward the barn cellar. What would he do now? If they captured him now, they would show no mercy because they would not want him capable of getting away again.

Mac got out into the other cellar wondering what he should do now. He knew there could be someone in the barn too. He went up the stairs to the door and peeped out. He could see a guard in the barn but his back was to the trapdoor. Mac knew if he came out of this trapdoor, the guard would see him before he could do anything. He let the door down and listened. He did not hear anything in the tunnel yet, but then he heard something up in the barn. "Hey, Marty!" Howard said. "Look for a trapdoor in that barn! If he's in there, we've got him trapped! Get John and make sure he doesn't escape. We want him alive!"

Mac was starting to panic. He got down the stairs and looked around the cellar for something he could use to fight. He did not see anything…except the oil lantern. He grabbed it and checked to see if it had oil in it but it was dry. He almost threw it down in frustration but he set it back down. How would he get out of here? He could not go back to the cellar under the house, and there was only one entrance to the barn cellar. He looked at the old shelf in the cellar but it would not come apart without he tore it apart.

Suddenly, Mac heard something bang on the door of the cellar he was in. He ran to the door to the tunnel and opened it. He could see a light coming shining in the tunnel. He was trapped like a rat! He pulled the door open and hid behind it, hoping that they would not shoot it full of holes if they thought he was behind it, but he had heard Howard say they wanted him alive. They would not get him without a fight.

Mac stood there trying to calm his breathing down so that he could think and be quiet. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he peeped through the crack at the back of the door. He did not hear anyone saying anything. They suspected that he was here. He thought they might have seen his tracks in the dust. There were four of them…and only one of him, but he would give them a fight.

Howard and Julie came into the cellar from the tunnel. They both had weapons. Mac tried to remain perfectly still as he heard the other trapdoor opening and the other two were coming down the stairs. As cold as it was, Mac felt a drop of sweat run down his neck.

"He couldn't have gotten out," Howard said. "He obviously wasn't in here."

"But he's been here," Julie replied. "It had to be after we chased him through those woods. He couldn't have gotten out of here without…"

Everything was suddenly silent. Mac tried to keep his breathing quiet and tried not to swallow but he was sure they had to know where he was. Suddenly, the door swung back and Mac was facing all four of them. "Well, well, well," Julie said. "Where you been, Honey?"

Mac just stared at them. "Get him," Howard said to John and Marty.

Mac could do nothing because they all had weapons aimed at him. They wanted him alive but he was sure they would not hesitate to kill him. John and Marty grabbed Mac and got him out from the corner. Julie walked up to him. "Now, we'll see just how tough you are," she said. "We can't have you running away again." She looked at Howard. "Let's do it down here in case it gets messy."

"Right," Howard replied.

"Wait!" Mac said.

"You're not going to beg are you?"

Mac glared at him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I want to," Howard said.

"I'll be in the house," Julie said to Howard. "You know what to do, right?"

Howard looked at her. "Of course," he replied. "We've talked all this out."

"Just make sure you do it right. I don't want him capable of running away again."

Julie turned to leave and Mac was starting to panic again. "NO!" he yelled as the three men started to take him toward the tunnel.

Howard rammed the butt of his gun into Mac's stomach. Mac almost collapsed but they held him up and dragged him on down the hallway. Mac knew he was in for it now. He thought he would not get his breath back. He coughed as they took him down toward the middle of the hallway.

"This should be good enough," Howard said. "Get that rope and tie him tight so he can't fight too much and gag him so he can yell too much either."

Mac tried to struggle again but they slammed him down on the floor on his stomach and he felt a knee in his back. "NO!" he yelled. "Don't do this!"

"Shut up!" Howard said. "It'll be over soon."


	6. Chapter 6

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It is kinda gruesome but send me some reviews. :) More to come. miss37**

Mac felt like he could not breathe for fear. "NO!" he yelled. One of the men lay on Mac's back and held his head down against the floor while the other held his left leg. Mac could feel sweat all over him as he felt Howard take hold of his right leg. "NO!" he screamed.

Mac thought his whole body suddenly went into shock and he lost his breath for a few seconds. Then his stomach became very unhappy as he felt like it came up his throat. Mac thought it was forever but it was really just a few seconds. When he got a breath in, he screamed. Then he realized they were going for his other leg. "NO!" Mac screamed. "NO!" He tried to struggle but he could not with them holding him down on his stomach. "Please, no!"

Howard knelt beside Mac and looked at him with an amused look. He could see the anger and fear on Mac's face as tears were streaming from his eyes. "Say that again," Howard said.

Mac was enraged. He gritted his teeth but he did not say anything. Howard glared at him and then got up. Mac was trembling as he knew what was coming. He gritted his teeth as he waited. He could do nothing as Howard took hold of his left leg. "Don't," Mac said.

"It's orders," Howard replied.

Mac screamed louder than he would have ever thought possible. Howard broke that leg slowly to make the agony worse. Mac lay there on the floor trying to keep breathing while his stomach heaved. They untied his hands and Mac trembled even worse. Then they just stood there talking. Mac felt so alone as he lay there in agony while they stood and talked about their plans, but he was not really comprehending what they were saying. He wondered what they would do to him next.

When they were done talking, they turned Mac over and got him up between them, not caring about his pain. Howard stood in front of him. "Well, I guess you won't be giving us anymore trouble," he said.

Mac felt like he could barely breathe but he was trying to look defiant. "No wonder you didn't make it," he said. "You're no soldier, you're a bully."

"Get him out of here."

They took Mac up into the house and to the room where he had been held before. They dumped him on the bed having no mercy for his pain. Mac groaned out loud as they put his legs up on the bed and took his coat off.

Mac lay there wishing he could stop those tears from flowing from his eyes but he could not at the moment. Howard sat down on the side of the bed. "Well, I guess you would rather have a rematch than this," he said.

"I can't believe you did this to me," Mac said trying to control his voice.

"It was Julie's idea. She doesn't want you to get away. I was just gonna put you out in the middle of nowhere and let you walk back. You just ruined that plan…and just think, you were right under our noses. I wanted to let you go."

Just then, Julie came in. She stood at the end of the bed with her arms folded. "Well, I guess you won't be running off again," she said.

Mac felt incredibly sleepy now but he knew that woman was who he really had to be concerned about. He did not believe Howard would have done this to him without her.

Suddenly, Howard shook his shoulder. "You're not trying to leave us, are you?" Howard asked.

Mac did not answer. He could not keep his eyes open. "I think he's in shock," Howard said. "I told you we should have only done one leg."

"Don't say that again," Julie replied. "Why do you care what happens to him? He's your enemy."

Julie left the room. Howard looked at Mac. He was not sure he ever really considered Mac an enemy. He was more like a challenge. He was the only one who could really give him the fight he wanted…even if he did have to force it. He looked at Mac's legs. He had not wanted to cripple him. He was not even sure why he gave in to Julie, but it was too late now.

"Howard!" Julie yelled from the other room.

"Coming!" Howard replied. He looked at Mac who was asleep now. "I'm sorry, Mac." He left the room.

Jo was pacing back and forth in her office. She knew something was wrong. It was mid-afternoon and no one had seen Mac yet or heard from him. She had no proof except those fingerprints that anything was amiss. She certainly had no proof that Julie was involved.

Then Jo remembered something. She hurried to the lab and ran the fingerprint through a different database. However, she still got no match. If it was Julie's print, she should have found it in the database since teachers had to be fingerprinted…then again, she was a librarian.

Jo knew she would have to get a warrant to get Julie's records from the college. She would have to tell the chief about this to get this warrant, but she would wait for the other evidence she had coming.

Adam came to Jo's office later. "We can pick up the surveillance from the apartment building," he said.

"Great," Jo replied. "Have you figure out that other problem?"

"Yeah, I've got that too."

"Good, let's go."

"I'll be right back."

Jo and Adam went over to the apartment building and drove into the parking garage after convincing the security guard. Jo parked beside Mac's truck and Adam got out with his equipment. When he had the door open, they searched but Mac's weapon was not there.

"What is going on here?" Jo asked to no one in particular.

"It looks like someone is trying to make it look like Mac walked off on his own," Adam said.

"But why?"

Adam did not know the answer to that. "Do you think his girlfriend is in on this?"

"I don't know but we have to get in there and talk to the woman at the front desk if she's there this late. You go and pick up the surveillance videos while I go talk to her."

"Right."

Jo went into the apartment building to the front desk and the receptionist was still there. Jo wondered if she sat out here all the time. She watched everyone who came into the building and everyone who went out. "Excuse me," Jo said as she could see the name on the name plate. "Mary Petersen?"

"Yes," the woman said. "May I help you?"

"I'm Detective Danville."

"You work with Detective Taylor."

"Yes. I need to ask you some questions." Jo showed her a picture of Julie Brannem. "Have you seen this woman here?"

Mary looked at the picture. "I have," she said. "She was here New Year's day for Mac's party…and you were too."

"Yes, you're very observant. Have you seen this woman here since then?"

"Yes, she was here the day before yesterday during the big snowstorm. I was surprised to see her but I guess when you have someone like Detective Taylor, you don't mind braving the weather."

Jo just looked at her a moment. "I guess not," she said. "Did you see her leave?"

Mary considered that. "As a matter of fact, I don't think I did," she said. "She may have gone out the other way through the garage."

"But she came in this way?"

Mary nodded. "Sounds strange, doesn't it? What's going on? Is Mac okay? I haven't seen him since the night before that."

"We don't know if he's okay or not. He's missing."

Mary's mouth dropped open. "Missing? And you think she did something to him?"

"We don't know. We're trying to figure this out. Just keep this to yourself."

"Yes, I will."

Jo left there and went back to the parking garage. Adam was coming out of the elevator too. "I got it," he said.

"Good," Jo replied. "I want Don to get over to Julie Brannem's house and find out why she lied." She got her phone and called Don and told him so. "Get a warrant."

"I'll get on it," Don said.

Jo drove back to the lab. "Did you find anything?" Danny asked.

"Yes, we got the surveillance and we found out that Julie lied," Jo said.

"Lied about what?"

"She came to Mac's apartment the day of the snowstorm. She told Don that he came to her house and stayed till that night."

"People only lie when they have something to hide."

"Right."

"What could she be doing with Mac?" Lindsay asked. "And how did she capture him?"

"I don't know," Jo said. "But we have to go back to that apartment and search again but we're going to be doing a different kind of search this time."

When Mac woke up, he felt like he could not move and he felt like he was swollen all over. He could not see how his legs looked because his jeans covered them but he could see that they were swollen enough to fill out the legs of the jeans completely. He thought his feet were swollen too and he was cold. His mouth was dry and he felt hungry. He wondered if they were going to let him starve to death.

As Mac was thinking that, Howard walked in. "So you're finally awake," he said. He walked over to the bed and looked at Mac. "You hungry?"

Mac glared at him. "I'm thirsty," he said, and even that effort seemed hard.

"I'll get you some water."

Mac felt miserable. He did not think he could even sit up right now. How would his team ever find him? He was in the hands of two insane people. One who thought she hated the world, for what reasons he did not know, and the other who thought he had to follow her orders. He did not know which was worse but he thought Julie was the worst.

Mac closed his eyes and tried not to moan with pain as his legs ached with throbbing pain. He felt helpless and closed in. How would he ever get out of here? Would he die here? He realized he was starting to panic and he could not do that. It made tears run again. He was not sure if he was crying or if it was just from the pain. He was not one to cry over anything but he did not know how much longer he could stand this pain.

Howard came back with some water. "I brought you some pain medicine too," he said.

Mac thought he did not have any breath. "You can't keep me here like this," he said.

"Why do you say that? You can't get up and get out of here."

Mac wanted to scream out loud but he forced himself not to. He glared at Howard. "How do you think I can drink that like this?"

"I'll help you."

Mac gasped when Howard tried to raise his head up. Mac grabbed his arms with a grip that Howard thought would cut off his circulation. "Stop!" Mac exclaimed.

"I'm trying to help you," Howard said.

"You're killing me!"

Mac thought if there was anything in his stomach, he would throw up again. "Just relax on my arm," Howard said.

"Why do you care about it?" Mac asked. "You did this to me!"

Howard frowned. "I shouldn't have," he said. "You were my only challenge." He put the glass up to Mac's lips when he relaxed.

Mac drank some water. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"You aren't really my enemy. If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you in Montana."

Mac thought that was the craziest thing he had ever heard. "Then why are you holding me here?"

"Julie has plans for you." Howard put the pills in Mac's mouth. "Swallow those."

Mac swallowed the pills even though he did not want to. He knew he needed something for this pain. "Don't you know that I could die like this?" he asked.

"Just be still," Howard said and laid him back on the bed and then left the room.

Mac did not know what to do. He had no way of trying to escape now. Howard had broken his femurs. There was no way he could walk on his legs. He was not sure the other bones were not broken too. He looked toward the window wishing that Jo could find him, anyone. "Please help me," he whispered.

Howard soon came back with some food. He closed the door. "You think you can feed yourself?" he asked.

Mac just stared at him. "I don't know," he said.

"I can prop you up, I guess."

"Don't you touch me!"

"You have to eat something."

"I don't have to do anything!"

Howard frowned. "When you get situated it won't hurt," he said.

"How about waiting until the pain medicine takes effect?"

"Then you'll go to sleep."

"I don't care. Just leave me alone."

Howard sat down on the side of the bed. "You better be glad I'm here," he said quietly. "If it weren't for me, she would do a lot worse to you. She would like to make you have a slow, agonizing death."

"Oh, and I suppose I should thank you for saving my life?"

"All I wanted to do was compete with you, Taylor. I didn't want to hurt you."

Mac frowned. "If that is your way of apologizing, you're a little late," he said. "Get away from me."

"She's going to frame you. I hope you know that."

"And you're going to let it happen."

"Not much I can do."

Mac was starting to feel a little light headed. He knew that medicine was starting to take effect. He could hear himself breathing inside his head. He hated pain medicine for that reason. It made everything feel weird and he felt like he was not in his body, but right now, he really did not care.


	7. Chapter 7

**Another pretty gruesome chapter. I hope you will send me some reviews. Thanks for reading. miss37**

Jo, Danny, Lindsay and Sheldon went to Mac's apartment to search again. This time they would be searching for something unseen…whatever that might be. They all began searching. Danny and Lindsay searched the living room. "I don't see anything that looks out of place," Lindsay said.

"Me neither," Danny replied. "We should let Lucy come over on his day off and liven this place up a little." He knelt and looked under the sofa and the end table beside the sofa. "Boom!"

Lindsay went over to him. "What did you find?"

Danny moved the table after he took pictures. Lying in the floor was a syringe. Danny took pictures of it and put it in an evidence bag. "This must be how they got him," he said.

They went to show their find to Jo. "Let's get this back to the lab," Jo said. "We have to test it for prints and whatever was in it."

They went back to the lab and Danny and Lindsay began testing the syringe. Lindsay took the needle to test it for DNA while Danny dusted for prints. He lifted a print from the syringe and put it in to find a match. Then he got a sample from the syringe to analyze. When the analysis was done, they looked at the screen. "A strong sedative," Danny said.

"If they gave this to him, he would be out in seconds," Lindsay replied.

"No doubt."

Jo was in the computer lab with Adam. They were looking at the surveillance footage from the apartment building. "Okay," Adam said. "Right here we see Julie going to Mac's apartment on New Year's and later there's you and Russ and Ellie. So here we go."

Jo watched as Adam forwarded to the day of the snow storm, and then he stopped the film. "Now, watch this," Adam said.

Jo watched but she did not see anything but an empty hallway. "I don't see anything," she said.

"I'll run it again." Adam ran the film backward. "Now, watch the time."

Jo watched the time skip and hour. "How did that happen?" she asked.

"Something must have turned off the camera for an hour," Adam said.

"What about the other cameras?"

Adam got into the divided surveillance which showed all of them in pixels. "All of them," he said.

"How could someone do that?"

"Through a computer and…"

Just then Danny walked in. "Jo, the fingerprint on the syringe matched the fingerprint from those murders," he said. "And there was a powerful sedative in that syringe. If they gave that to Mac, no wonder they could capture him."

"But how did they get into his apartment. It has to be someone he trusts and that has to be Julie."

Lindsay came in as they were looking at the surveillance footage. "Someone turned off the surveillance cameras for an hour," Jo said. "This is when we think it happened."

"Wait," Lindsay said. "Did you say they turned off the surveillance cameras?"

"Yes."

"When Danny was kidnapped in Montana, they turned off the surveillance cameras to kidnap the victims."

Danny looked at her. "Howard Bailey?"

"That guy's back."

"And he probably has Mac."

"But why?" Jo asked.

"He wanted him to make money on a fight last time," Lindsay said. "He has some sort of grudge against Mac."

"We have to get an APB out on him."

"What about the woman?"

"We'll add that he probably has a woman with him."

They all got busy. Don came up to Jo's office. "I've looked for everything I could find about Julie Brannem," he said. "According to her records at NYU where she works, she's from Texas. She has been here about five years since she spent ten years in the Air Force. She joined that when she was twenty."

"When were those murders in Texas?" Jo asked. She looked in her file. "All of them occurred in the last five years, except one that was about seventeen years ago." She looked at Don. "Find out if there are any unsolved murders in the Air Force that occurred where Julie was."

"Got it."

"I also want to know how her parents died. I'll get Adam on that."

"You think this woman has been committing murders since she was a teen?" Don asked.

"They all start somewhere."

"What about her prints?"

"I don't know how she did that but we'll find out."

"Why would she leave the print from the murders at Mac's apartment if she knows how to manipulate?"

"That's the puzzle."

"How would she do that?"

Jo shook her head. "I don't know but we have to figure it out."

Mac woke up during the night in excruciating pain. He figured no one would be in there to help him this time. He wanted to sit up, he needed to go to the bathroom, and he was starving. He looked at his legs knowing that if he did not get some help, he could die from this. He thought he had fever now. He decided he would try to move. There was a glass of water sitting on the nightstand and he could not reach it without moving. Mac was thinking now about how the legs were involved in a lot of actions. He thought if he moved his legs, it might help the circulation. His feet felt tingly, so he knew the swelling in his legs was interfering. He lay there a moment and took a few deep breaths. He had heard of people walking on broken ankles to get help. Why could he not get off this bed and get some help somehow? They would not expect him to be able to do that. He figured they were asleep now since they thought they did not have to watch him.

Mac looked at the glass of water. If he could get that glass of water and drink some, he might get an idea of the pain he would be in if he fell off this bed. Would he pass out? If he passed out, they would probably find him and…he did not want to think of what they might do to him then. He swallowed hard and then attempted to move closer to the glass of water. He almost cried out with just that move but he moved again. That pain was enough to take his breath away. He figured that was why people sometimes passed out with pain. He finally got close enough to reach for the glass of water but his hand was shaking so badly he had to wait a moment to get himself calmed down. Then he reached for the glass again and this time he got it. He drank some of the water and it tasted good because his mouth was so dry.

Next, Mac looked down at the floor. He lay back and closed his eyes. It looked like a long way to that floor. He was not sure he could take it but he could not just lay here and expect someone to find him. He had no idea where he was anyway, and his team would have no way of knowing where he was. They would not know who had kidnapped him…or would they even know that anyone kidnapped him. He was sure they would not think he just disappeared. No, they would never think that because they knew him better than that.

Mac looked down at the floor again. If he hoped to do anything, he had to get down there. He had to keep himself from screaming when he hit the floor. He moved over to the edge of the bed. He thought as bad as that hurt, he was not sure he would be able to stand what he was about to do. He threw one of the pillows in the floor so he could scream into it when he got down there. He threw the other pillow down there too so that maybe it would muffle his fall. He rolled up on his side and looked down at the floor again. He swallowed hard again and then rolled off the bed. His legs landed on the pillow but it did not lessen the pain at all. Mac grabbed the pillow and screamed into it. He thought he would die right there and his stomach did not like the situation either. There was nothing in his stomach though except the water so there was not much to throw up.

Mac buried his face in the pillow and groaned out loud. He would not let himself pass out. He looked under the bed, but this was not the room that had the trapdoor. He wiped those tears out of his eyes again and then looked around toward the door. He had to get out that door if he hoped to get any help. He started pulling himself toward the door with every inch being agony. He did not hear anything going on in the house. He did not even know if he was on the second floor or the first floor now but he got over to the door which was open and looked out into the hallway. He did not see anyone in the hall or hear anything. He crawled out into the hall which was not easy only using his arms. He remembered crawling flat of his stomach in the Marines but he could use his legs then. Right now, he could not even move his legs.

As Mac got out into the hall, he began to wonder if they had left him there alone, but he got out of the hall and looked into the next room which was the living room. He could see a sofa and chair, and he saw that the TV was on. He thought there must be someone in there if the TV was on. He looked around the door facing and he was behind the sofa and chair, so if anyone was lying on that sofa, they would not see him if he crawled through. He could hear a fire crackling in the fireplace and then he heard something else.

"I've always loved it in front of the fireplace," someone whispered.

"I think you love it anywhere," another voice whispered.

Mac realized Howard and Julie were in there in front of that fireplace. He figured if they were having sex again, they would not notice him, so he crawled out behind the sofa and headed for the kitchen which was the next room. He thought maybe that was where the phone was. He dragged himself toward the kitchen door and when he got around to the end of the sofa, he could see into the living room and see Howard and Julie. He thought they must not be worried about anyone seeing them in there. He got on over to the doorway of the kitchen and watched to make sure they did not see when he pushed the door open. He just hoped there was no one in that kitchen.

Mac got into the kitchen slowly and got the door closed back. He lay there a moment trying to get his breath back. He knew they were not expecting him to get out of that bed so they were not watching. He looked around the dark kitchen to locate the phone and he noticed that it was on the counter across the room. He dragged himself over there and he thought his legs were feeling numb now, although with pain. It was hard to explain how they felt but he was ready for this to be over. He made it over to the counter and then he had the task of getting himself up to sitting. He lay there a moment and sweat dripped from his hair and it was already stinging his eyes. His legs throbbed now and he wanted to moan in agony but he could not. He looked up at the counter wondering how he was going to get that phone down from there. If he knocked it off the counter, it would make noise but he thought he could get it if he could sit up. He pushed himself up with his hands and almost had to bite his tongue to keep from crying out as he got himself turned over to sit up. He sat against the cabinet with his breath coming in short puffs. He wished he had just stayed in there on the bed in the back of his mind but he had to try to help himself.

Mac looked up at the counter and he could see the phone from where he was. He reached up and touched the edge of the phone base. He slid himself over to sit right under it and then reached up with both arms. He pulled on the phone base with his fingers and it slid slowly since it had rubber on the bottom to keep it from sliding. He thought sometimes things had too much safety on them but then again, he was not always in this situation. He pulled the phone and got it sticking out over the edge and then he got his hands on it and pulled it off hoping the phone receiver would not fall off the base when he got it off the counter. He held it as level as he could and got the phone down into his lap. He tried to get his breath back and he felt sick. He got the receiver and wiped the sweat out of his eyes so he could see the numbers…

Jo was sitting at her desk yawning as she was looking over reports again. She wanted to find Mac. She just knew something terrible had happened. Her phone rang as she started to get up and go get some coffee. "Danville," she answered.

"Jo."

Jo almost stood up. "Mac?"

"Jo." Mac did not know what to say. "Jo, help me."

"Where are you?"

"I don't know, but Julie or whatever her name is, and Howard Bailey are holding me captive here."

"Can you get out?"

"No." Mac was trying to keep his voice under control. "Jo, they broke both my legs."

"Oh, God. Mac, where are you? Do you have any idea?"

"No. I'm in a house. It's a two-story old house. It has a big barn. There's a cellar under the barn with a tunnel that comes to the house. Jo, please get me out of here."

"Mac, we're trying to find you. Stay on this line!"

Jo ran to the computer lab. "Adam! Trace the call on my office phone! Mac is on that phone!"

Adam started typing immediately and started the trace. Jo ran back to the phone. "Mac? Mac?" She almost panicked when Mac did not say anything. "Mac!"

"I'm here," Mac said. "I have to get back to that room, Jo, before they find me. I don't know what they would do to me. I have to go."

"Mac, wait!" Jo could hear the fear in Mac's voice. She had never heard that before. "Adam is tracing the call! Just stay on the line a little longer." She could hear Mac's breathing. "Just hold on, Mac."

"Jo, if they find me in here…"

Jo heard the call end. "Mac!" She wondered what happened but she ran back to the computer lab. "Adam, did you get it?"

"No, it wasn't long enough, but I do know that it was outside the city somewhere to the West of New York."

"We have to find him! He described the house." Jo ran back to her office and called Don Flack who had gone home to get some sleep. "Don, get here! Mac just called me!"

"I'm on my way," Don said as he was jumping out of bed.

Jo called Danny and Sheldon as well and they got on their way. Adam came to Jo's office. "What else can I do?" he asked.

"Do everything you can to find a house that has an old cellar under it and the barn and also has a tunnel that goes between them," Jo said.

"Got it!" Adam ran back to the computer lab.

Jo felt a sense of urgency. She had never heard fear in Mac's voice since she had met him, and if he was that fearful, she knew he was in terrible danger. And they had broken his legs. Jo wanted to cry but she did not have time for that. She would call Russ and get him in on this. He had been asking about Mac because she told him that Mac was missing. Jo thought Mac might not have much time and he could use all the help he could get.


	8. Chapter 8

Mac looked up as the kitchen door opened. He ended the call as he was shaking all over. He put the phone down and tried to move but it was too late. Howard saw him. He walked over to Mac and stared at him. He could see the fear in Mac's eyes even though he was trying to hide it.

"Do you know what she would do to you if she caught you in here?" Howard whispered.

"Why do you care?" Mac asked. "You did this to me."

"You want me to go get her?"

Howard started to turn but Mac whispered, "NO!"

Howard stopped and folded his arms. "You better not do this again," he said.

Mac realized Howard was going to carry him back to the room. "Don't scream," Howard whispered as he bent over to Mac. "I don't know how you got off that bed and got in here but…"

"Howard, hurry up!" Julie called.

"Stay here!" Howard whispered. He got two glasses and a bottle of champagne from the fridge. He put the phone back on the counter.

Mac sat there and watched Howard leave the kitchen. He knew Howard was right. Julie would probably kill him if she found him there. He could not go back out the way he had come but there was another way out of the kitchen. Just as he was about to try and go that way, Howard came back into the kitchen. He squatted beside Mac. "I have to hurry," he said.

Mac almost cried out as Howard was getting him up, but Howard grabbed his mouth. "Shhhh," he hissed. "You got in here, and you're going to get out."

Mac was shaking all over. Howard got him over his shoulder and went down the hall. He took Mac back to his room and put him on the bed. Mac groaned with pain. Howard frowned. "How did you get off this bed?" he asked.

Mac could not answer. "Why are you helping me?"

"I don't want her to kill you. Don't try that again." Howard leaned over him. "Did you call anybody on that phone?"

Mac glared at him. "If I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"Did you tell them where you are?"

"I don't even know where I am."

Howard got a pair of cuffs from the drawer in the nightstand and cuffed Mac's left hand to the bedrail. "Now, don't go on anymore late night adventures."

"I need to go to the bathroom."

"Don't try that. I'll bring you some more pain medicine."

Just then, Julie walked in. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"He was moaning so I came in to see about him," Howard said.

"Why is he cuffed?"

"He's tough. You never know what he might try."

"Well, I was waiting for you."

"I'll be back in there in a minute. I'm giving him more pain medicine and he'll sleep."

Julie looked at Mac. "He sweats a lot, doesn't he?" she asked.

"I'll get the pills."

Howard left the room and Julie sat down on the side of the bed. "Too bad we can't have a threesome," she said. "I bet you sweat a lot then too."

Mac almost felt sick. "You're crazy."

Suddenly, Julie grabbed his thigh. Mac cried out with pain, but he knocked her off the bed with his right fist before he thought about what he was doing. He felt like his legs were breaking all over again. Howard walked back in and saw Julie in the floor and Mac almost writhing on the bed. He went over to Mac. "What did you do?" he asked.

"She squeezed my leg!" Mac yelled.

"Take these."

Howard picked Julie up. "You better hope that medicine is working when she wakes up."

Mac swallowed the pills which he was sure were morphine. Right now, he did not care. He did not think the call was long enough for Jo to trace it, but at least he got in touch with her.

Don, Danny and Sheldon came into the lab at about the same time. "What's going on?" Danny asked.

"Mac called," Jo said. "It wasn't long enough to trace the call but we got a general area."

"What did he say?" Don asked.

"Come with me."

They all went into the conference room and sat down. "Is Mac escaping?" Don asked. "What's going on?"

"He can't escape," Jo said. "They made sure of that."

"What do you mean?" Sheldon asked.

"He said they broke both his legs."

Danny and the others were shocked. "Broke both his legs?" Sheldon asked.

"Yes, and he didn't know where he was." Jo covered her face a moment. "You just didn't hear him. I've never heard Mac like that."

"What can we do to help him?" Don asked.

"Adam is searching everything he can to find a house like the one Mac described. It has a cellar under the barn and the house with a tunnel. The house is two stories."

"Did he say what color the house is?" Sheldon asked.

"No. I don't think he could think very well."

"A barn?" Danny asked. "That means maybe it's an old farm house."

"He said Julie Brannem and Howard Bailey are holding him captive," Jo said.

Just then, Russ Josephson walked in. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "What's going on?"

They filled Russ in on what was happening. "Farm house," he said thoughtfully. "Outside the city."

"Yes, and Adam is trying to find out if Julie or Howard have any connections with anyone out there," Jo said.

"I wouldn't think they would."

"Why?"

"People who get away with crimes like that are not going to have their names on anything that they're using."

"But Julie is most likely not even her name and she has even changed her fingerprints somehow."

"All of you scientists haven't figured out how she did that?"

"Don't get cute, Russ. This is serious."

"If we could figure out who she was before…"

"She joined the Air Force when she was twenty…at least that is what her records say."

Russ laid the file down. "Wow, this is more complicated than you and me."

Jo looked at Danny and Don. "Maybe you two should go down to Texas and see if you can find out something there," she said. "I'll approve it with the chief and get a request for that information."

"I guess we better go pack," Don said.

"How she got into the Air Force with an assumed name is beyond me."

"Someone has to know about this," Russ declared. "But that was fifteen years ago. She could have gotten a new social security number and a new identity."

"New fingerprints?"

"That's the mystery."

"Something is wrong with this picture."

"All she had to have was a birth certificate and to get that…"

"She had to have her mother sign."

"We'll get on our way," Danny said.

"I'll get your tickets," Jo replied.

Don and Danny left and Jo looked at Russ. "Is it really that easy?" she asked.

"It used to be," Russ replied. "If this woman is a murderer, why hasn't she already killed Mac?"

"Russ!"

"I'm just thinking out loud. It's just curious."

"Howard Bailey. He's not a murderer. He doesn't want Mac dead."

"If they broke both his legs, they don't intend to let him go," Sheldon said. "I can't imagine."

"How did he get to a phone like that?" Jo asked.

"Determination?"

Russ shook his head. "More than that," he said. "That's pure grit."

Julie started to stir out of her stupor. Howard was sitting beside her on the bed. He knew she was going to be fighting mad. She opened her eyes and then sat up. She touched her face. "He hit me!" she said. She looked at Howard. "And you didn't do anything!"

"Now, wait a minute. I picked you up and brought you in here."

"He's going to pay!"

Julie started out of the room but Howard grabbed her. "Now wait a minute," he said. "Wait till morning."

"Fine, but then he's going to get a broken arm!"

Howard frowned as he looked toward the room Mac was staying in. he would not break his arm for her. He was done with that.

The next morning, Mac woke up in pain. He did not know how that pain could be worse, but it was. Not only did his legs ache deep down inside where they were broken, but the pain seemed to be traveling down his legs to his feet. He was sure he had fever now too. He looked at the cuff on his wrist. He pulled at the cuff even though he knew he could not get loose. He felt like he wanted to panic but that would not do any good. He hoped Howard would take him to the bathroom. He was not sure how much longer he could hold it.

Howard was up and dressed. He got up early every morning. He did not intend to let Julie kill Mac. She was stirring too and soon sat up. She looked at Howard. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"Nowhere. You know I'm always up early."

Julie got out of bed. "I have some unfinished business."

"You get a shower and I'll get breakfast."

"I'm taking care of him first."

Howard watched her go into the bathroom. He had to calm her down. He went down to Mac's room and saw that he was awake. He watched him a moment. He thought he was crying and he kept pulling at the cuff.

Howard walked into the room. Mac glared at him. "Still hostile, huh?" Howard asked.

"How long do you think I can lay here without going to the bathroom?" Mac asked.

"You shouldn't have hit her."

"It was a reflex!"

"She wants to break your arm."

Howard thought Mac's face turned a shade whiter. "And I guess you're going to do it," he said.

"No, I'm not, but she will."

"Who is she?"

"I'm not sure."

Just then, they heard Julie slam the bathroom door. Mac glared at Howard. "Maybe I should tell her what you did last night?" Mac said.

"Go ahead. She won't believe you and besides, she might do worse."

"Take this cuff off!"

"Can't."

Soon, Julie came in there. She looked at Howard. "You sure do stay in here with him a lot!" she said.

"So?"

Julie went over to the bed on Mac's right side. He could see the bruise on her face. "You're going to pay for hitting me," she said. She looked at Howard. "Break his arm."

"No," Howard said. "He's suffering enough."

"I'll decide that!" She went to the fireplace and got the poker. "If you won't do it, I will!"

Mac pulled at that cuff. "NO!" he yelled. "Get away from me!"

Julie grabbed his arm and Mac really had no way to fight her, but he managed to jerk his hand away from her. Therefore, she swung the poker at him. Mac blocked it from his face with his arm which was not good for his arm and then she hit him with the poker again. Mac braced himself for another whack but then he heard a gunshot.

Mac looked to see what happened and Howard was standing at the end of the bed with a smoking gun. He realized he had shot Julie. He stared at Howard wondering if he was going to shoot him too. Howard looked at Julie. "I told you that you weren't going to kill him," Howard said.

"You maniac!" Julie screamed but she could not get up. He had shot her in the stomach.

Mac could not believe what was happening. Howard took the poker from Julie and moved her over to the far wall while she tried to fight. "Now, you just sit there," he said.

Howard went over to Mac and uncuffed him from the bed. "What are you doing?" Mac asked.

"I'm helping you," Howard replied.

"If you think…"

"Shut up!"

Mac groaned loudly as Howard got him up on his shoulder. "You can't just leave her there like that," Mac said.

"Yes I can," Howard replied.

"She'll die!"

"She'd die anyway after she gets the death penalty."

"Bailey, you haven't committed murder before!"

"It wasn't murder. I was saving your life!"

Mac could do nothing as Howard carried him into the living room and laid him in front of the fireplace. "Why are you putting me here?" Mac asked.

"They'll be here to get you soon," Howard said.

"Who?"

"Just shut up." Howard put another log on the fire and brought Mac a bottle of water and a pack of honey buns. "That ought to keep you until they get here."

"I don't think I can drink anymore water."

"Oh yeah. You wanted to go to the bathroom. Well I'm not a nurse." Howard stood up. "So long, Taylor. I'll be seeing you around."

Mac glared at him. "If I ever see you again, I'm going to kill you!"

"Is that any way to talk?"

"You're going to leave me here like this?!"

"She broke your arm, didn't she?" Howard squatted to look at Mac's arm.

Mac shoved him with his left hand. "Get away from me!"

Howard grabbed his chin and shoved his head down on the floor. "Don't mistake my actions for friendship," he said quietly.

Mac was full of rage. "I would never mistake you for a friend."

"You're defiant to the end, aren't you?" Howard grabbed Mac's arm which caused Mac to cry out.

"Why can't you take me to the hospital?"

"They would ask too many questions."

"Please. Don't leave me here."

"They'll find you."

Mac lay there on the floor as Howard walked out. He soon heard a vehicle crank up. He was stuck here now. He could not get to the bathroom and he did not know how long it would be before they found him. He knew that Julie was not dead yet either. He did not think he could hold his bladder anymore but he would try.

Mac finally started to doze as the warmth of the fire relaxed him somewhat but then he heard something and he realized it was footsteps. He looked toward the hallway and saw Julie coming that way. Although she was coming slowly and not in a straight line, she was coming. Mac thought he would panic. He was practically helpless. He looked at the fireplace tools. They were his only hope if she got in there to him. He did not hold back his cries of pain as he got himself turned over and reached for the fireplace tools. He finally got one of them into his left hand and then he looked toward Julie who was standing at the end of the sofa now.

"He shot me over you," Julie said. "I'm going to kill you."

"You're going to have to fight for it," Mac replied. He did not know if he would be able to even hit her but he would fight to the death.

Julie laughed as much as she could, but Mac could see that she was still losing blood. She started toward him and picked up a knife from the coffee table as she passed by it. Mac breath was not coming easy. "Why don't you just stop this now?" he asked.

"You just forced your way into my life and then you hit me. You have to pay for that."

"I didn't force my way in!"

"I told you I didn't want to see you again and you came back."

Mac was not sure what to make of this conversation but he thought she must have had some sort of trauma in her past. She came closer to him and then stumbled and fell to her knees but she was not giving up yet. Mac waited to see what she would do and when she got close enough to him, he swung the fireplace tool at her and knocked the knife from her hand. Then she jumped on him. She was clawing at his eyes and Mac got the tool back enough to hit her in the head with it and she fell beside him. He moaned with pain as his legs let him know that they did not like moving right now. He could not hold his bladder anymore either. He thought he might just die here like this and then it would not matter if they found him that way. He stared at the ceiling wanting to sob but that would do no good. He just wanted someone to find him. He wondered if he could make it to that phone again.

As Mac dragged himself, he thought he was becoming numb all over and he thought he would pass out. It was a very slow, excruciating crawl toward the kitchen but he got through the door and then noticed that the phone was sitting on the floor. His eyes began that watering again, but he was sure he was crying this time. He could call and let them trace the call and no one would interfere this time.


	9. Chapter 9

Russ and Sheldon were in the lab when the phone rang in Jo's office. Russ had talked Jo into going home and getting some rest. Sheldon ran to the office and grabbed the phone. "New York Crime Lab," he said.

"Sheldon."

"Mac?"

"Sheldon, help me."

"Stay on this line!"

Russ ran to the computer lab where Adam was sleeping. "Adam!"

Adam jumped up. "What's going on?"

"Trace the call to Jo's office. Mac's on that line."

Adam started the trace. Sheldon was talking to Mac. "You're gonna be okay, Mac. We'll find you."

"I don't know where I am," Mac said.

Sheldon thought Mac sounded sleepy. "Adam is tracing the call now, Mac."

"I wonder what it's like to die."

"Mac, don't talk like that. Don't give up now."

"He shot her to…to save my life."

"You can tell us about it later. Save your strength."

"Sheldon, I think I'm numb all over."

"Where are you? Are you in the house?"

"Yes. I'm…in the kitchen. I'm so tired."

"Just hang in there, Mac. We're coming to get you."

Russ came to the office door. "We have it!" he said.

"Tell Adam to come and take this phone."

Russ went back to the computer lab. "Mac," Sheldon said. "We know where you are. We're coming."

Adam came into the office and took the phone. "Keep him talking as long as possible," Sheldon said.

"Right," Adam replied. "Mac?"

"I'm here," Mac said.

"This is Adam. They're on their way, Boss."

"I can't move anymore."

Adam had never heard Mac like this before. "Just hang in there, Boss. They'll help you."

"He just left me here."

"Who?"

"Howard Bailey."

"The guy from Montana?"

"Yes." Mac thought he would fall asleep. "It's warm."

"What happened to Julie?"

"I think she's dead. She…" Mac dropped the phone as he fell asleep.

"Mac? Mac!" Adam knew something happened but he could see the call was still connected.

Adam got his cell phone and called Sheldon. "He fell asleep or something," Adam said.

"Keep trying to wake him," Sheldon replied.

"Okay."

Adam ended that call and went back to the other phone. "Mac! Mac!" He did not hear anything. "Mac!"

Russ and Sheldon were racing toward the address. Sheldon had called for an ambulance and he also called Jo to let her know what was going on. Jo was up getting dressed, and Ellie came into her room. "What's going on, Mom?" Ellie asked. "Did they find Mac?"

"Yes," Jo replied. "Go back to bed. You need your rest."

"I hope he's okay."

"I'll call you."

"Okay. Be careful."

Jo ran out the door and got on her way to the address…

Mac was barely conscious when he heard sirens. He could not even feel the pain anymore. He thought he was wet all over. He thought he had relaxed everything and now he could not stay awake.

Sheldon and Russ pulled into the driveway of the house and they could hear more sirens coming. They ran up to the door and Russ opened it. He had his weapon ready but he did not see anyone except he could see Mac lying in the floor. Sheldon got over to Mac as he was getting some gloves on. He could definitely smell urine. He felt for Mac's pulse and found that.

Mac opened his eyes slightly. "We're here, Mac," Sheldon said.

Russ squatted beside Mac. "You'll be okay now," he assured him.

Then they heard something behind them. Russ looked around to see a woman covered in blood and she had a gun. Russ started to lift his weapon but she shot him.

"Russ!" Sheldon exclaimed.

Mac was aware of what was going on. Russ's gun was right beside his hand. "You're going to die, Mac Taylor," Julie said.

Sheldon got between her and Mac. "Just put the gun down," he said.

"After what he did?"

"And what was that?"

With Sheldon's distraction, Mac got his hand on Russ's gun. He got a grip on it and aimed between Sheldon's legs and fired. Julie screamed but was determined with murder lust. Mac fired again, knowing that she would kill Sheldon without blinking an eye. She fell forward then and Mac dropped the gun. He looked toward Russ.

"Russ," Mac said.

Sheldon looked around at Mac but he got over to Russ and felt for a pulse. He looked at Mac with a shocked expression. "Mac, he's gone," Sheldon said.

Mac closed his eyes. "Where's Jo? Don't let her come in here. She doesn't need to see him like that."

"What about you?"

"I'll be alright a few more minutes."

Sheldon went out the door. There were some officers there and the ambulance but Jo was not there yet. "When Detective Danville gets here, don't let her come in there," Sheldon said to two officers. "That's Mac's request."

Sheldon went back inside as the paramedics were coming in. "He has two broken legs," Sheldon said.

They cut Mac's pants legs up to his thighs so they could see where the injuries were. Mac even moaned and grimaced at that. He knew they had to get him on a back board to get him on the stretcher.

"Mac, just relax," Sheldon said.

"My right arm," Mac said.

"It's broken too?"

"I think so. Sheldon, I want to just lay here."

"Mac, they're going to be as careful as they can."

Mac watched as they got the backboard ready to put him on it. One of the paramedics squatted beside them. "I talked to the hospital," he said. "They said to start an IV and give him some morphine."

Sheldon started working on the IV which had to go in Mac's left arm. Mac was still anxious because he knew they were going to move him soon. They put an oxygen mask on him and Mac did not even know when Sheldon stuck him with the needle. He did not know anything after they gave him the morphine.

"He's out," Sheldon said. "Let's get him up."

They got Mac's right arm into a brace and then got him onto a backboard, but when they rolled him on his side, Mac whimpered even though he was asleep, and his left hand trembled.

"Let's be careful," Sheldon said but he knew no matter how careful they were, they were going to cause him pain.

They got Mac on the stretcher and got him covered up. As they were rolling him out, the ME was arriving. "There are two bodies in there," Sheldon said.

"Two? I was told one," the ME replied.

"An officer was killed."

Just then, Sheldon saw Jo driving up. He went over to her. "They're loading Mac now," he said.

"How is he?" Jo asked.

"He's got a long recovery ahead."

Jo went over to the ambulance. Mac was asleep of course. She squeezed his hand. "You be okay," she said.

Sheldon wanted to go with Mac but he did not want to leave Jo alone. "Wait for me," he said to the ambulance driver. He went over to Jo.

"Is Russ here?" Jo asked.

"Jo, there's something I have to tell you," Sheldon said.

"What?"

"Russ did come with me. We got here first."

"So, he's inside then." Jo stared at Sheldon a moment. "Sheldon, what are you trying to tell me?"

Sheldon felt terrible. "Jo, I'm sorry," he said.

Jo felt cold all over suddenly. She ran toward the house. "Jo!" Sheldon called. He wished Don or Danny were here.

Jo ran into the house and saw Russ lying on the floor. "Russ!" She ran over to him. "Oh, Russ, you can't…"

Sheldon could see the shock on Jo's face. He got her by the shoulders. "Come on, Jo," he said.

Jo went back outside with Sheldon. "What am I going to tell the kids?" she asked.

Sheldon wished he knew but he got Jo over to the ambulance. He would take her with him too. Jo just sat there looking sadder than Sheldon had ever seen her. "Let's go," he said the driver.

When they got to the hospital, they took Mac and Jo into an emergency room. Sheldon helped Jo to lie down and pulled the curtain between them since they were cutting Mac's clothes off. Next, he would have to go for x-rays, and then they would bathe him.

Sheldon went over to Jo who was just lying there. "What am I going to say?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Jo," Sheldon said. "Mac didn't want you to see him like that, but I couldn't stop you."

"Mac didn't want me to?"

"Yeah. He told me."

"He thinks of everyone but himself."

"He's in good hands now."

Sheldon was glad they did not have to take Mac from his room to x-ray him. They brought the x-ray machine to his room. He was starting to wake up but Sheldon was sure he was not feeling anything. Mac just stared at the ceiling.

By the time Mac woke up again, he was in a hospital room. He could hear a heart monitor but he felt like there was something between his ears and that sound. He realized his right arm was in a cast. He held it up and looked at it not fully comprehending what he was looking at.

Jo was in the room. She leaned over Mac. "How are you feeling?" she asked quietly.

Mac felt like he was hearing her far away. Jo smiled and kissed his forehead. "You're a precious friend, Mac," she said. "I have to go but I'll be back."

Mac did not really know what she said. She touched his face. "I'll be back to see you," she said.

Mac did not even know when she went out the door. He woke up again later and Adam was there. Mac was more aware now. "Hi, Boss," Adam said. "How you feeling?"

Mac was not sure how he felt but at least he was not in pain. "Better I guess," he said but he was hoarse.

"That's good. Don and Danny are still in Texas digging up information on Julie Brannem…only, she's not Julie Brannem. I mean, I don't know who she is but it's like she changed her identity at nineteen and she joined the Air Force. It's incredible."

Mac was listening to Adam's endless chatter. He wondered who sent Adam to stay with him. "I'm thirsty," he said.

"Thirsty? Okay." Adam got the cup of water and gave Mac some.

Mac grimaced as his throat felt raw. He supposed they had put a tube down his throat. "Did they operate on me?" he asked.

"They had to operate no your legs to make sure there were no tears in there or…I don't know but you're gonna be okay."

"I'm sleepy."

"Yeah, they, uh, have you pretty full of pain killers."

Mac remembered the pain he had been in. "Good," he said. He was tired of pain.

Adam sat down in a chair beside Mac's bed and turned the TV on. The Rifleman was on. Mac had not seen that show in a long time. He remembered seeing that when he was…very young. He was not sure how long ago it was. "I love this show," Adam said. "This guy has the coolest rifle. Aw, if I had one of those, I would probably go to the practice range."

"I watched the Rifleman before you were ever conceived," Mac said.

"Oh. Right."

Mac felt comfortable and warm for the first time in…he forgot how many days. He did not want to think about the last few days. They had been horrible…he could not say they were the worst he had ever spent but they were close. Now, he was lying here listening to Adam talk endlessly about almost nothing…and he did not care at all. Even though he was Adam's boss, Adam had always been a big kid and he thought he saw him a little bit like a son.

Adam continued to talk until he noticed that Mac was asleep again. He was going to stay a while. He was just glad Mac was here and not in the morgue. They had been afraid that they would kill him when they thought they were coming. Adam did not understand what happened, but as much as they could piece together, it looked like Howard Bailey had turned on Julie and had just left Mac there. He knew Mac would tell them later and the mystery would be solved.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, Mac woke up hungry, and a nurse was in his room. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Hungry," Mac said.

"That's a good sign. They should be bringing your breakfast soon."

"How long will I be here?"

"Oh, honey, you will be going to rehab after this."

Mac frowned. "I guess I can't take care of myself, can I?"

"Not for a while."

Mac had always thought he might end up in a Home but he did not think it would be this soon. He had no choice though. He had no one to help him. He could not expect any of his team to take care of him. It would not be permanent but he thought it would be depressing.

Mac thought he felt a little better after he ate. At least he did not have to worry about going to the bathroom now…or at least one way. He looked out the window and thought about what had happened but that made him feel nervous. He did not want to think about that. It seemed to make his legs ache too, and the beeping on that heart monitor was starting to get on his nerves. He felt like he was trapped in this room.

Mac realized what was happening: he was starting to feel claustrophobic. He pressed the Nurse button as he pulled at the neck of his hospital gown. "May I help you?" the nurse asked.

Mac was not sure what to say. "Uhm, I think I'm feeling claustrophobic," he said.

"I'll be right there."

Mac supposed he was not the only one who had ever felt claustrophobic in a hospital room. Someone knocked on the door. "Come in," he said.

Jo came in the room, and Mac felt embarrassed now. "Good morning," Jo said. She had a bouquet of yellow roses with her. She set it on the vanity, and then went over to Mac's bed. "How are you this morning?"

Mac took a deep breath. "I'm better," he said. He could see that Jo was not her usual chipper self. "I'm sorry about Russ."

Jo sat on the side of the bed. "I know we were divorced but I feel like part of me is gone. He was always there."

"Well, I know he loved you."

"You know, I found out that he left everything to me and the kids?"

Mac frowned. He knew what he felt like when Claire died. He did not know what to say to Jo. "I thought she was dead, Jo," he said. "I told him she was dead."

Jo looked at him. "Mac, how could you have known whether she was dead or not?"

"She attacked me and I…" Mac scowled. "I can't remember everything." He rubbed his forehead. "I hit her with something. She had blood all over her. I assumed she was dead."

"And you told Russ she was dead so he didn't do a hot search."

"She was the only person there besides me. Howard had already left."

"He should have searched anyway. Why did he think you knew anything?"

Mac looked at Jo and realized she was about to be in the anger stage of grieving. He certainly remembered going through that. He thought he better not say anything else. He had not thought she cared so much for Russ, but he supposed she did not want him dead. She was looking for someone to blame.

Jo looked at Mac. "Why did you tell him that she was dead if you didn't know for sure?" she asked.

"Jo, she was losing blood," Mac said.

"You can't say someone's dead unless you check for a pulse."

"I didn't take time to do that. I just wanted out of there away from her. I didn't know anyone would even find me like that."

Just then, the nurse came in and she had a bouquet of black tulips. "Someone sent this to you," she said. "It has a card." She brought the card to Mac. "About that other problem…"

"I'm okay for now," Mac said. He certainly did not want Jo to know he was claustrophobic.

"Well, I have to be going," Jo said as she stood up. "I'll see you, Mac."

"I am sorry about Russ, Jo."

Jo felt. Mac looked at the card from the bouquet and he frowned as he read it:

_Glad to see you recovering, Taylor. It'll give us a chance for a rematch._

_ I think you know who_

Mac thought he would never be rid of Howard Bailey…until one or both of them were dead. He did not want to fight or have anymore broken bones. And he sure did not want to hurt anybody else either. He supposed he would be safe until he got over this and he did not know how long that would be. He did not heal as fast now as he did when he was younger.

Later that day, Don came to Mac's room. "Hey!" Don said. "How you doing?"

"I'm sleepy," Mac said. He had had his pain medicine and he was feeling very light.

"Not too sleepy to talk I hope."

"Maybe not."

Don could see that Mac was a little out of it. "Danny and I have been in Texas," he said.

"I heard. Flat, ain't it?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Don sat down in the chair beside Mac's bed. "We found out a lot of stuff about Julie by putting two and two together mostly."

"Her name is not Julie?"

"Right. Her name before was Jenna Roche. It was just like we thought. She killed her father when she was a teen because he raped her all the time. Her mother helped her get a new ID, new birth certificate, everything, and they had a lot of help, it seems. Somehow, the fingerprints on the case were changed. We don't know how exactly, but they're still trying to find out. We think she killed her mother later but of course, there's no proof of that. There were five murders during the time that she was in the Air Force, all at places she was stationed at and there was nothing to prove who did it. Then there are some questionable murders in Texas and Oklahoma and even New York. We just don't know. The thing is that the people were so decayed by the time they found them that it was impossible to get any evidence."

"How did she hide them?"

"Some in remote valleys that no one ever went to, just different places."

"I think she intended to kill me and leave me in that tunnel between the cellars."

"But what about Howard?"

"I don't think he intended to kill me. He wanted a competition."

"Competition?"

Mac took a deep breath. "Like last time but…I don't know why he gave in to her and broke my legs. I think he thought he was in love with her or something."

Don was beginning to think Mac was talking in his sleep. "How did they capture you?"

"She…came over to my apartment…the day of the snowstorm. She gave me a shot of something and the next thing I knew I was in a bed locked in a room."

"Then what happened?"

"He was going to put me out in the middle of nowhere and let me find my way back," Mac said sleepily. "They gave me some winter gear and when I got that on, I took the door off the hinges and…"

Don touched Mac's arm. "And then what?"

Mac opened his eyes. "I got out of the house and when I got in the barn, I thought I could run away through the woods but it was so cold…when they went out after me, I went back to the barn and I found the trapdoor to the cellar. I thought I could stay in there until I could get to a phone but they found the trapdoor and I was trapped between the barn and the house. When they found it they knew I was in there."

"And that's when they broke your legs?"

Mac closed his eyes. "Yes. I don't think I can tell anymore right now."

"That's alright. Just rest."

Don watched Mac fall asleep again. He could not imagine anyone cruel enough to break someone legs. He had seen horrible things while he was a cop though. He hated that this happened to Mac and they did not even know he was missing for all that time.

Someone else knocked on the door. "Come on in," Don said.

Danny walked in. "Hey, how's he doing?" he asked.

"He's drowsy but he's talking. Pain medicine."

"Yeah. That stuff has no mercy."

"He went through a lot."

"I don't think I could make it. What all did he tell you?"

"He got to the part where they broke his legs."

Danny folded his arms. He was not sure he wanted to hear about that. "I see he's got some plants over here," he said.

"Yeah," Don replied. "I didn't bring anything. When I was in the hospital, I took so much stuff home, it looked like I had been on vacation."

Danny snickered at that. "Me too. I told Lindsay, it looked like I had moved out."

"You know where I think I'm going on my next vacation?"

"Where?"

"Texas. It was nice down there."

Danny nodded. "If we hadn't been looking for a murderer…yeah, I can see how you would like it."

"It was warm though. I've been freezing ever since I got back."

"But it hasn't been warm down there all winter. They had more snow than we did."

"I think it was more ice than snow."

"I don't know but when places get all that stuff when they're not used to it, it's worse than here."

"Yeah, but I want to go during the summer or something."

"We would burn up down there. We're used to this cool climate."

Danny sat in the chair on the other side of the bed and turned the TV on. "I guess we can watch the game while we sit here and wait," he said.

"What game?"

"I don't know. There's always a game on somewhere."

They sat there for about an hour and then Mac started moving but he grunted as he almost forgot about his legs. He opened his eyes and looked at the TV. "Hey, Mac, you waking up finally," Danny said and stood up.

Mac looked at him a moment. "How long did I sleep?" he asked.

"About an hour."

"Is Don still here?"

"Yeah, I'm still here," Don said from the other side of the bed.

"My back hurts. I'm tired of laying here."

"Well, you don't have much choice right now."

"It's funny I can feel numb all over but I can feel my back hurting."

"You wanta sit up a little higher?" Danny asked.

"I don't know."

"We can try it."

Danny pressed the button to raise Mac up a little higher. "Whoa," Mac said when he was sitting up a little higher. "That's enough." He was not sure that was better or not.

"You comfortable?" Don asked.

"I don't know yet." Mac looked at them. "I guess you two are wanting me to talk about what happened, right?"

"Yeah, we've been waiting."

"Where did I get to?"

"They found you in the cellar."

"Oh."

Danny and Don sat down and waited for Mac to go on with his story. He was silent for a moment. "They…" Mac took a deep breath. "Do I have to talk about all this?"

"Well, Mac, you know I need your account of what happened," Don said. "But if you're not comfortable talking right now, I can come back tomorrow or something."

Mac was not sure he would want to talk about it then either but he knew he would eventually have to tell it all. "There were two men there besides Howard Bailey," he said. "I heard him call one of them John. I don't know who they were and I didn't see their faces very well in that cellar. They…held me while Bailey broke my legs."

Danny and Don could see that it was not easy for Mac to talk about that. "Then what did they do?" Don asked.

Mac swallowed hard. "Then they took me upstairs to the house and put me back on the bed. I couldn't do anything but lay there. One night I got off the bed and…"

"Wait a minute," Don said. "You got off the bed with two broken legs? How?"

Mac frowned. "It wasn't easy," he said. "I just rolled off the bed."

Danny almost grimaced. "What did you do then?" he asked.

"Well, after I got over the shock of it I crawled out of the room and made it to the kitchen. They didn't think they had to worry about me, you know. That was the first time I called Jo."

"Then what happened?"

"Howard found me and he carried me back to my room. He didn't even tell Julie what I had done. The next morning, she started beating me with a fireplace poker and that's when she broke my arm, and he shot her."

"He shot her because she was beating you?" Don asked.

"Yes. He told her he wasn't going to let her kill me."

"Then it wasn't murder."

"I guess not, but he sure has a lot of other charges for what he did to me."

Don and Danny could see the anger on Mac's face. "He left me there in front of that fireplace and I fell asleep for a while and then Julie got in there and she attacked me. I hit her with the fireplace tool and then I crawled to the kitchen. When Russ and Sheldon got there, I thought Julie was dead. I…I told him she was dead."

"She killed Russ?" Don asked.

Mac nodded. "He fell close to me and I got his gun or she would have killed Sheldon too," he said. "I shot her twice."

Don was taking notes the whole time Mac was talking. "I'm sorry all this happened to you, Mac," he said. "I wish I had known sooner."

"You couldn't have known," Mac replied. "I was surprised that she was at my apartment. I never suspected anything."

"Well, who would think something like that would happen?"

"I'm a seasoned detective. I should have known something."

"It could happen to anybody."

"Right," Danny agreed. "You take it easy. I have to get back to the lab."

"I have to get back too," Don said. "I got to get this report done and see if there's anything else we need. We'll be back to see you again."

Mac nodded. Don and Danny left and Mac was alone again, but he was still drowsy so he just closed his eyes. He did not want to think about that situation anymore. He just wanted to get well now.


	11. Chapter 11

After three days, Mac was transferred to a veteran's recovery hospital. Since he was a veteran, he would stay there for his recovery. Mac lay on the stretcher in the ambulance and just stared at the ceiling. He wondered how long he would have to lay on his back. He knew if they had not given him that pain medicine before they got him onto this stretcher, it would have been very painful. He had never been so uncomfortable in his life, and he hated that catheter too. He looked at his right arm. He could not even write anything. He remembered the time he had fallen over that balcony. It had been the same arm, but this time it was worse. He supposed it was because this was the second time it was broken. He thought his life was getting too dangerous. Maybe he would go on a vacation somewhere and relax after all this…then again, he might not get a vacation for a long time after this.

Soon, they arrived at the hospital and took Mac inside. Mac thought it smelled like disinfectant and he hoped he would not have a roommate but when he got into his room, he found that he was in the room with an old man. Why could he not have a private room? He did not want to put up with another person. He felt so helpless. He could not get up, he could not turn over off his back, he could not go to the bathroom, and he had not even sat up in a chair yet. He thought this was probably going to be a long stay.

Mac lay there while they prepared to move him over to his bed…or prison. He frowned as he thought he was not going to enjoy this. He dreaded when they started putting him through rehab. This was a long-term care hospital and he would be in this bed at least three weeks, he supposed. Finally, they were ready to put him into the bed and then they lifted him into it. Mac sighed as he was glad that was over even though he hated to be in this bed.

When Mac was situated, the nurses came in and got his IV fixed. He would have to have it a while longer. Then everyone was gone and he was there in the room with a person he did not even know. They had told him the man's name: Arthur Olson. Arthur walked with a cane and he walked over to Mac's bed. "Howdy there, young man," he said. "What are you in for?"

Mac looked at him. "I have two broken legs and a broken arm," he said.

"Ouch. What'd you do, fall off a ladder?"

"No."

"Don't want to talk about it, huh?"

"Not really."

Arthur talked loud, Mac supposed, because he had a hearing aid. He had thin gray hair and blue eyes. He wore glasses and was wearing an old robe that looked like it was faded, although he had on sweat pants and sneakers. "What did they say your name is?" he asked.

"Mac Taylor…and you're Arthur Olson."

"Right! I guess your memory isn't affected."

Mac was glad it was not. He sure did not want to go through that again. "And what are you in for?" he asked.

"I fell and broke my hip," Arthur said. "I've been here two months. Took me that long to get up on a cane."

Mac frowned. He hope he would not be here that long. "Were you in the service?" he asked.

"Sure I was!" Arthur replied. "I wouldn't be here otherwise. I was in the Marines in Vietnam. It wasn't a pretty sight."

"I was in the Marines too. I went to Beirut and Desert Storm."

"Oh, the more recent wars. What do you do now?"

"I'm a detective. I'm the head of the crime lab in New York City."

"Hey, that's an important job, isn't it?"

"Well, I suppose it is to a lot of people."

"You are one of those CSI's aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm a criminalist."

"You got to crime scenes?"

Mac nodded. "Yes."

"It's terrible, isn't it? You have to figure out how that person died?" Arthur leaned back in the chair. "When we found 'em, we didn't have to wonder how they died."

Mac frowned and looked at Arthur. He knew Arthur probably still had dreams about it all. It never went away. "We found 'em in pieces and every other way you can find a person," Arthur said.

Mac thought he wanted to go to sleep but he figured Arthur was going to keep talking. "When do they feed us around here?" Mac asked.

"Oh, around five o'clock," Arthur answered. "I go down to the dining room. I guess you'll be taking yours in here."

"For a while, at least."

"I'll be getting out soon. Now that I can get around on the cane pretty well, I can go home. Then I guess you'll have a new roommate."

Mac felt exhausted after all that activity of getting to this place. His back ached and he was bored stiff. For a person who was used to a lot of activity, this was like torture. He had tried to get his mind off lying in bed all the time but it just did not work. Don had even brought him magazines and word puzzles, but he had not had much desire to do them since his right arm was in a cast. It hurt his arm to try and hold a pencil.

The next thing Mac knew, he was waking up again. He was very hungry now and realized that Arthur was not in the room now. He pressed the nurse button and waited for someone to answer. "May I help you?"

"When is dinner?" Mac asked.

"Just a minute."

Mac thought he was tired of having to wait on everything and he sure was tired of lying in that bed. Soon the nurse came with his tray. "When will I get to sit up?" Mac asked. "When will I get a wheelchair?"

"I'm not sure," the nurse said as she put the tray on his table. "You can have your bed sitting up further."

Mac just sat there while she raised his bed up. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just not used to lying around."

"You're not feeling claustrophobic, are you?"

"I don't know, I just feel miserable."

"You're not in pain, are you?"

"Just that dull ache."

"Don't worry, you'll get better soon."

Mac sighed. He supposed he would have to accept it as just that. "Your therapy starts tomorrow," the nurse said. "Just let us know if you need anything."

Mac nodded and looked at the food on his tray. He hated eating with his left hand. He felt like he was learning to do everything again. He might as well eat. He picked up the fork with his left hand and took a bite of his carrots. He liked carrots, but he thought he would rather have potatoes. He wished he could go down to the dining room. At least he would be around other people.

Mac finished eating and then just lay there and stared at the wall. He did not have the remote for the TV. He felt trapped in this room and it would soon be night again. Tomorrow would be different maybe. At least he would be doing some sort of therapy. Being bedridden was full of embarrassing situations when one could not get up at all.

Soon, Arthur came back into the room. "That was a good supper," he declared. "They have good food here. Did you get yours?"

"Yes," Mac said.

"You don't look very happy."

"I'm not."

"Don't worry. They take good care of you here. They are very good to you and make sure you have what you need."

Mac thought that was easy for him to say. He could get up and walk around. "How long was it before you could get up?" he asked.

"Oh, about two weeks. I had to go through a lot of therapy before I could just walk around."

"I mean, getting up at all."

"You mean in a chair? Probably a week. I had to let that hip get settled in."

"I don't know how long I'll be laying here."

"Don't get depressed about it." Arthur got the remote to the TV. "Watch anything you want. I don't mind at all."

Mac looked at the TV. He supposed it would be better than just lying here aching all over. His legs ached, his arm ached and his back ached. He turned the TV on. He realized his feet even ached but there was nothing he could do about it. Any movement of his legs sent pains all through them. He flipped the channels on the TV with boredom. He did not think anything could make him feel better in this room. Maybe Don would bring some reports for him to sign. He would rather do that than to just lay here doing nothing. Everyone thought he needed rest. How much can a person rest? He wanted something to do. He wanted out of this bed…but that was ridiculous. He was getting claustrophobic again. He tried to get interested in the TV.

Arthur got into his bed and lay down. "Well, what do you usually do when you have a day off at home?" he asked.

"I don't usually take days off," Mac said.

"Oh, you're one of those, huh?"

Mac looked at him. "One of those?"

"Yeah, one of those people who never stop working. No wonder you're so miserable in here."

"I didn't say I was miserable."

"You don't have to say it."

Mac frowned. Was it that obvious? "Well, I'm sorry if I bother you with my boredom."

"You're not bothering me. I'm just glad to have some company."

Mac looked at the old man. "Doesn't your wife come to see you?" he asked. He had seen the wedding ring on the man's hand.

"My wife died…a long time ago," Arthur said.

"I'm sorry. I just thought…"

"That's alright. I never took it off."

Mac remembered when he still wore his wedding band. He thought maybe he would have been better off if he had not taken his wedding ring off. He should have just done what he wanted and not listen to everyone around him saying he needed to get out. He sighed. It had done him no good to get out.

Arthur sat up in bed and looked at Mac. "My wife died on nine-eleven," he said.

Mac looked at Arthur, clearly shocked by that statement. "In the towers?" he asked.

"Yeah. She was there at a business meeting. She never wanted to retire."

Mac did not know what to say. "And you never took your ring off," he said.

"I didn't see any reason to. We had been married thirty forty years. I didn't want anyone else. Besides I had my kids."

Mac was bombarded by all his regrets and horrors of that day. "My wife died that day too," he said wondering if she had met Arthur's wife.

"Oh, so that's why you're not married then."

Mac nodded. "I guess I don't want anyone else either."

"Well, when you're married to the woman you love and you lose her, what else is there out there?"

"Nothing."

"But you're not as old as I was. You must have been quite young when she died."

Mac frowned. "I was thirty-nine."

"That's the prime of life. Any kids?"

Mac shook his head. "No." How did he wind up in this room with someone who shared the same story he did?

"Kids take some of the pain away because I can see her in them."

Mac thought of Reed and how much like Claire he was. Even though he was not his son, he had wanted to have a relationship with him because he was all of Claire that he had left. "I understand that."

"Why didn't you have any kids?" Arthur asked.

Mac sighed. He was not sure now. "I thought I wasn't ready and thought we had…time."

Arthur nodded. "Yeah, we take time for granted, don't we?"

"I did take time for granted."

"You think you have all the time in the world and then suddenly, it's gone." Arthur looked at Mac. "Was she waiting for you during your wars?"

"She was but we didn't get married until I came back."

"How old were you then?"

"Twenty-six."

"I was twenty when we got married. Then I shipped out. I had something to dream about though while I was laying over there in a fox hole or trekking through jungle or water so deep I barely had my head above it, and rain falling so hard you wondered if it was going to pound you into the ground."

Mac had not had to worry about rain where he was. He wondered what was worse…water or sand. He had thought he ate more sand than food while he was over there and he thought he had washed off a pound of sand every time he took a shower. "Sand is terrible too," he said. "It gets everywhere and you wonder how it gets in some places."

Arthur laughed heartily. "Well, leeches do too," he said. "I found leeches in places that I sure didn't want them." He shivered. "It was a jungle out there."

"But you just keep on going."

"Yep. You know it can't last forever."

"That desert seemed to last forever. Nothing but sand and the smell of those oil wells burning…I can still smell it now, and the smoke was black and I just wondered why anyone would be so cruel as to do something like that and all the other things he had done."

"Kill their own. It's definitely a mystery to me."

Just then, the nurse came in with their medications. "How are you two doing this evening?" she asked.

Mac realized he was not feeling so depressed now but his legs and arm were aching as well as his back. "I'm feeling better," he said.

"Good." The nurse checked his vitals and then gave him his medication.

Mac watched as the nurse gave Arthur his medicine. Mac thought he was glad Arthur was in there. He was from a different generation and Mac always liked talking to older people. They were full of wisdom and knowledge.

When the nurse was gone, Arthur looked at Mac. "How was sleeping over there?" he asked.

Mac looked at him. "Well, you know you have to sleep light, and there was always sand around."

"We usually slept wet. I don't think there were any days when we didn't get wet," Arthur said. "I remember sleeping in the jungle and one morning I woke up and there was a cobra staring at one of my men. I knew if he woke up and started moving, that cobra was going to strike. I had a machete with me and I knew I could cut that snake's head off before he moved cause those machetes were sharp enough to cut through anything. Just as I was about to cut his head off, my friend started moving. I yelled for him to stay perfectly still and he was like a statue and it didn't take a second for him to see that snake. I swiped that thing and beheaded him. You never saw such coiling and squirming but that was a tense situation."

"I can imagine. We had to deal with scorpions and snakes over there. Those snakes would crawl into the tent at night and curl up in your bed if you didn't have the covers under the mattress. And the scorpions…they would crawl into your boots or clothes." Mac almost shivered thinking about it. "I almost put my foot in on one once, but I saw him. From then on, I knew why they told us to shake out our boots and clothes."

"Always those simple little orders that you don't need to overlook."

Mac started to feel his medicine. He thought it always started acting fast. "So, what was your final rank?" Arthur asked.

"Lieutenant."

"I was a sergeant. I got to yell at people."

Mac laughed but it almost hurt to laugh even though he was starting to feel numb again. "I guess I did too," he said.

"That medicine just knocks you out, doesn't it?"

Mac nodded but he had his eyes closed. If Arthur kept talking, he did not hear him…


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning, Mac woke up wondering where he was for a moment but he remembered. He realized the sun was already up. He looked over to see Arthur but he was not in the bed. Mac did not know what time they had breakfast around here but he was ready for it. Did he always have to call them to tell them he wanted his breakfast? He pressed the nurse button.

"May I help you?" the nurse said.

"When is breakfast?"

"In a few minutes. Do you need anything?"

"Water."

"I'll be right there."

Mac turned the TV on to watch the morning news. Soon the nurse came and brought him some water. "Good morning," she said with a smile. "My name is Elisha. I'll be your nurse this morning. If you need anything, just let me know."

Mac pressed the button to raise his bed up and he drank some of the water. His legs were aching again. "When do I get my medicine?" he asked.

"You can have it now or after you eat."

"I guess I better wait."

"They should have your breakfast here in just a few minutes."

"Thanks."

"Are you comfortable?"

Mac considered that. "Not really, but I guess that can't be helped right now. When will I get to sit in a wheelchair?"

"Your therapist will decide that, and your doctor."

"Okay."

Mac knew it would not be very comfortable sitting in a chair but he wanted out of this bed. He waited for his breakfast and finally it arrived. It certainly smelled good and he ate everything. He was feeling miserable again but he was enjoying seeing the news.

Soon, Arthur came back to the room. "Morning!" he said loudly. "How you feeling this morning?"

"Aching a little," Mac said.

"Oh, I have a little ache too." He gave Mac the morning paper. "I thought you might like to see that."

"Thanks."

Arthur got back on his bed and looked at the TV. "I like my news every morning," he said.

"Me too." Mac started reading the paper. At least he could do that without aching and he felt more relaxed but then he saw the story about him. It had a picture of Howard Bailey and said that he was at large and wanted for murder. Mac frowned. He had told them that Bailey shot that woman to save his life. It could not really be considered murder.

"I read that story about you," Arthur said. "That was quite an ordeal you were in."

Mac nodded. "Yes, it was."

"Were you scared?"

Mac looked at him. "Yes I was some of the time."

"I can't remember a time when I wasn't scared in Nam. It seems like I think about it a lot since I've been here and have nothing to do."

"I know what you mean. I think about things when I'm still too. I guess that's why I like to stay busy."

"Maybe I should have gotten a job instead of staying at home and then I might not have fallen and broke my hip," Arthur said and laughed.

Mac was glad he was cheerful about it. He supposed he was not cheerful when it first happened though. He hoped he would feel more cheerful as he went along too.

At around 9am, the therapists came. Arthur would go down to another room but Mac's therapist would stay there with him of course. "Good morning," she said. "My name is Cynthia, and you're Mac Taylor?"

"Yes."

"I'll be helping you get on those feet again. I guess you're ready for that, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Today, I'm just going to check your range of motion and see how much you need to work on."

"I feel like I can't move at all."

"Well, that will get better as those bones heal."

Mac thought he did not have much optimism. He felt trapped and he did not want to pretend to be happy because he was not. The therapist uncovered his feet. "Can you wiggle your toes?" she asked.

Mac looked at his feet and he could barely move his toes and that even hurt. "Does that hurt?" Cynthia asked.

"Yes."

She wrote in her file. "We don't want those hips to get too stiff," she said. "As soon as the doctor approves, we'll start lifting the up and down."

"I just want out of this bed. When can I sit in a wheelchair?"

"Not for a while. Just got to be patient."

Next, she massaged Mac's feet. He was not sure how that felt. It felt almost like it was hurting but then again, it felt like his feet were a little numb. "We want to get your circulation going good," Cynthia said.

Mac was glad there was some sort of purpose to this. It seemed to make his legs ache. When she was done massaging his feet, she had him to raise his arms up and down. His right arm felt very heavy of course. She could not do much with him so the session was not very long. Then Mac was alone again but he thought his arms and legs felt a little better. He knew his feet were swollen but his hand was not so much.

A little later, the nurse, Elisha, came in. She checked Mac's vitals. "Okay, I have to check you for bedsores," she said as she was putting on gloves.

Mac frowned. "Bedsores?" He had not even thought of that but when a person was lying in a bed a long time and had numbness they could have them and not even know it.

"Yes. People who are bedridden have a high risk for them. After this, we'll give you a bath."

Mac just stared at her, wondering how she was going to check him for bed sores, but another nurse came in to help. Mac was starting to get nervous. "Now, just relax," Elisha said. "We're not going to hurt you."

Mac could not imagine the hurting him without it hurting. "We have to turn you on your side," Elisha said. "We'll do it slowly."

They gently turned Mac on his side as he grabbed the bedrail. His legs ached but he thought it was actually a relief to be off his back. He closed his eyes as they examined his back and other areas of his body to make sure he did not have bedsores. "Can I stay this way a while?" he asked.

"Are you comfortable this way?" Elisha asked.

"Yes. I feel relieved."

"You can if it's comfortable and doesn't hurt."

"Thanks."

Mac was so relieved he went to sleep again. When he woke up, Don was sitting beside the bed. "Hey," Don said.

"Hey," Mac replied. He did not think he felt so comfortable now. "When did you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago. How you feeling?"

"Tired."

"Yeah. Hospitals will do that to you. So, how's the food?"

"It's good. How are things at the office?"

"Everything's like it always is. Jo's getting everyone in line."

"How is she doing?"

"I don't know. She doesn't want to admit that anything bothers her but we can tell."

"I think she blames me."

Don was puzzled by that. "Blames you? Why would she blame you?"

"I told Russ that Julie was dead," Mac said with a frown. "I shouldn't have…"

"Mac, that is not your fault. You couldn't have known that she was still alive."

"I couldn't know that she was dead either. I really thought she was."

Don could not believe what he was hearing. "Russ wouldn't blame you for this," he said. "He made his decision not to do a search and he should have followed procedure."

"He trusted me."

Don frowned. "So, what kind of therapy are they doing?"

"Not much yet. I haven't had my bath yet but they checked me for bedsores this morning."

"Bedsores are not fun."

"I think I fell asleep before they told me if I had any."

Mac grimaced. "I have to turn over. I can't stand this anymore."

"You need help?" Don asked.

"I don't know."

Don stood up and helped Mac to turn back to his back. "I can't stand this anymore," Mac said. "I'm trapped in this room."

"I'm sorry, Mac," Don said. "Maybe it won't be much longer before you can get up and around. You sure don't want to get up too soon."

Mac knew Don was right but that did not make it easier. "By the way," Don said. He picked up a box. "I brought you some files to sign."

Mac looked at the box and smiled slightly. "You think I'm in a position to sign those?" he asked.

"I'm sure you'll find it out. Danny thought you were probably going stir crazy."

"He's right."

Don set the box on Mac's bed. "We'll be back to get those tomorrow," he said.

"Tomorrow? Did you bring a pen?"

Don picked up a pen from in the box. "Hey, I wouldn't leave you unprepared."

"You're not leaving yet, are you?"

"I have to go. I just came by to bring these and see how you're doing. I'll be back."

"Okay."

Don thought Mac looked a little depressed but he would have to go. He could not stay at the moment. "Hey, I have a day off in two days. I can come and stay more with you that day," he said.

Mac nodded. "Good."

"I'll see you."

Mac watched Don go out the door and he frowned. Arthur was not even in the room. He was alone and could not get up. All he could do was watch TV. He turned the TV on for company and then reached in the box for a folder. He started reading the reports. He was always amused at Adam's reports. They were definitely unique but very thorough. Sheldon's reports were more detailed and scientific, educated. Lindsay's were detailed but simple to understand, and Danny's reports were more like a police report. Jo's reports were detailed and sophisticated with that southern charm, even on paper. Mac smiled as he read them. He could see their personalities even in their writing. Of course, if he did not know them, he might not see all that.

A while later, the nurses came back, three this time. Elisha put her hands on her hips. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm…working," Mac said. "I wanted something to do anyway."

"Well, we have to get your bath."

"Now?"

"Yes, now. You've put it off long enough."

Mac put the file he was working on in the box and the pen and they set the box in the chair beside his bed. "Those are important files," he said.

"They'll be fine," Elisha replied.

Mac wondered how they were going to give him a bath on this bed without getting the bed wet, but they did, and he felt absolutely clean from head to toe and there was not a drop of water on the bed, but they changed it after they got him clean…without even moving him off the bed. "You guys are good at your job," Mac said.

"Thank you," Elisha replied as she was checking his IV. "I'll give you your pain medicine if you need it."

Mac considered that. "I'm not hurting very much right now," he said. "Just aching. I think I'll wait."

"I have to get your other medications. I'll be right back."

Mac was glad that bath was over, but he had to admit he felt better. It made him feel sleepy again, but he did not want to go to sleep. He had found himself sleeping all during the day while he was in the hospital. He supposed when a person could not do anything but lie in the bed, they could not help but sleep. He was almost asleep when the nurse brought his medicine but he took it anyway.

"When can I get out of this bed?" Mac asked.

"As soon as the doctor says it's okay," Elisha replied. "Those bones have to heal."

Mac could not stay awake after the nurse left. When he woke up, Arthur was shaking his shoulder. "Hey," Arthur said. "Do you like checkers?"

Mac thought he could not wake up but he wanted to. "Sometimes," he said.

"You gonna sleep all day?"

"What time is it?"

"Soon be lunch time."

Mac yawned and raised his bed up. He did not want to sleep all day. He looked at Arthur. "Thanks for waking me up," he said.

"You're welcome," Arthur replied. "When I first got here I slept a lot too."

"I wish I could get up."

"You will, you will."

Mac felt like he was playing that checker game in his sleep and then he had lunch. Arthur got into bed after that and watched TV. Mac tried not to go to sleep again, but he lost that battle.

That evening, Jo came to the hospital at about dinner time. Mac was sleeping when she walked in. She realized the files were sitting in a chair and that Mac had been working on them. She walked over to the bed. She thought Mac looked like he was swollen all over but she knew that injuries caused one's body to react. She leaned over. "Mac," she whispered. "Mac Taylor, are you getting lazy?"

Mac started to move. "Oh come on," Jo said. "Surely you can wake up for me."

Mac opened his eyes and Jo was leaning over him. "Hi," he said.

"Hi. I see you're getting plenty of rest now."

"I guess you can stop worrying about my rest then."

"Until you get back home."

"I hate being here in this bed."

"Mac, you can't just get up after you have two broken legs and a broken arm. You have to have time to heal."

"I know that, but I don't have to like it." Mac yawned. "I think I've slept all day."

"You worked on the files, I see," Jo said.

"Yes, I got a few done but I couldn't finish them all."

"Oh, that's okay. I'll take the ones you finished and we'll get the rest tomorrow."

"If I can stay awake long enough to do them."

"So, how are they treating you here?" Jo asked.

"Very well. I can't complain about that."

"That's good."

"I feel lonely and trapped here."

"I know you do because you're used to being out there running around and solving the murders and getting the bad guys."

"Yes, I am."

Jo sat down on the side of the bed. "Mac, I want to tell you something," she said.

Mac looked at her. "What?"

"It is not your fault that Russ is dead. It's not his fault, it is Julie…or Jenna's fault. She pulled that trigger."

Mac frowned. "She wanted to kill me."

"But you saved Sheldon's life. She would have killed him too."

"It happened so fast…"

"It always does. Oh, I miss Russ, and his hanging around, and I can't even figure out why. I always pretended that I hated him and hated him being there, but…Mac, I loved it when he came around. He made me feel safe. Even though we were divorced, he was a good man."

"I guess sometimes, we don't know how much we appreciate some people until they're gone."

"You're right. I took him for granted."

"He loved you, Jo."

Jo sighed. "We still don't know where Howard Bailey is. No signs of him."

Mac nodded. "I'm not surprised. He knows how to be invisible."

"Have you heard from him?"

Mac did not want to answer that question but he did not have to. "You have," Jo said. "What did he say?"

"Jo."

"Don't 'Jo' me, you tell me what he said."

Mac looked at her. "I don't have to tell you anything," he said. "My personal conversations are not your business."

"They are when they involve a wanted criminal who kidnapped you and broke both your legs."

"No, they don't."

"Mac."

"Drop it, Jo."

Jo folded her arms. "Well, I guess we'll just have to put an officer here to watch after you."

"No you won't. I have not had any threats from Howard Bailey. Besides, just anyone can't walk into this place."

"That's true. I had to go through a scan and everything to get in here, but still, don't hide things from us."

"Everything is fine, Jo."

"I hope so."

Jo looked in the bag she had brought. "By the way, I brought you some magazines and the financial news, and I even brought you a deck of cards. You can play solitaire."

Mac smiled slightly. "Thanks," he said. "I guess maybe it will help me with the boredom."

"I hope so."

Jo looked at her watch. "I think I'll just stay and have supper with you, and then I'll go on home."

"I have to eat in here," Mac said. "I can't go down to the dining room yet."

"Well, that's alright."

Just then, Arthur came in. "Well hello there!" he said. "I'm Arthur."

"Jo Danville. Pleased to meet you."

"Hey, if I had someone as pretty as her to come and see me, I might have already been out of here."

Mac had to chuckle at that. "You didn't tell me you had such a charming roommate," Jo said.

"I didn't know he was so charming," Mac replied.

Arthur laughed. "He's quite a kidder when he wants to be."

"Oh I know," Jo said.

Mac sat there and listened to Jo and Arthur talk while he read over more files and signed reports and soon the nurse came and brought his dinner and took Arthur down to the dining room. Jo had gone and gotten herself a tray too. "At least you have good food here," she said.

"Yeah, I can't complain," Mac replied.

"When you get out of here, I'm going to take you out to eat the biggest pizza we can find."

"Do I have to wait till then?"

"To go out?"

"No, to eat pizza?"

"Oh, no. If you want a pizza, I'll bring one the next time I come."

"Great."

When they were done with dinner, Jo left. Mac got his medication and then it was not long until he was asleep again.

Jo called Don and told him that Mac had heard from Howard Bailey. "I don't know what he said to him," Jo said. "But he says he didn't threaten him."

"What do you want to do?" Don asked.

"I don't know. I'm just worried about him."

"Bailey didn't seem to want to kill him. Even Mac said he didn't want to kill him."

"What is it with this guy and this obsession he has with Mac?"

"I don't know. Something from the past. If there's more to it, Mac hasn't told me."

"There must be something else. I guess Mac is safe enough here but I just hope he would tell us if that guy threatened him."

"I'm sure he would. He's not exactly in a position to defend himself."


	13. Chapter 13

A week later, Arthur got out of the hospital. "You've been a great roommate," he said. "I hope you're up running again soon."

"Thanks, Arthur," Mac replied. "I couldn't have asked for a better roommate."

"Maybe I'll come and visit you."

"You do that."

"See ya, young man. Hey, and if I were you, I'd be sparking at that foxy lady that's always coming around here."

Mac smiled slightly. "You mean Jo?"

"Yeah, that lady detective with the pretty eyes. You waste your time."

"Take care of yourself, Arthur."

"Oh, if I was about thirty years younger, you'd have some competition."

Mac smiled as Arthur walked out but then he shook his head. He did not want to start something with Jo and he certainly did not have any indication that she wanted to start anything with him. Besides that, he was flat of his back in the bed. They had been treating him for bed sores and turning him more because he was having less pain. He could move his feet better now and his hand was better too. He felt like his body was trying to get back to normal but he was still not able to get up. He would not be able to do that until his legs had healed enough for him to stand on them. The therapist had been helping him exercise his hips slightly and to exercise his ankles. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever be able to walk again.

That night, Mac still did not have another roommate. He hoped he did not get another one. He did not think he could get one as good as Arthur had been, but he was alone now all the time.

During the night, Mac woke up when he heard someone coming into his room. He was barely awake but they came over to the bed and Mac gasped when he saw who it was. He tried to reach for the nurse button but Howard Bailey grabbed it and detached it from the wall socket. He pushed Mac down on the bed covering his mouth. Mac grabbed his collars with his left hand but he could not push him off. "How ya doing, Taylor?" Bailey asked quietly. "I didn't come here to hurt you, I just wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten about you."

Mac tried to push him away but he did not have enough strength and the struggle was making his legs hurt. "I'll be around when you get back to your old self, Taylor," Bailey said. He moved his hand slowly from Mac's mouth.

"The next time we meet when I'm back to my old self, I'll kill you," Mac said.

"That's the spirit. We'll fight to the death."

"You did this to me!"

Bailey put his hand over Mac's mouth again. "Shhhh, we don't want anyone getting curious," he said.

"Get off me!" Mac demanded. He was trembling afraid that Bailey was going to hurt him before he left. It made him angry because he was afraid but he could not defend himself.

"Relax, Taylor. I don't attack helpless people. I want a fair fight."

"We already had a fair fight…except you kidnapped me and forced me to fight."

"It was the only way to get you there."

"I'm not going to deal with you anymore."

"You'll never be rid of me, Taylor. I waited for years to get to you."

"Get away from me!"

Bailey stood up. "See ya around, Mac."

Mac was so angry, he felt like he could not breathe but he was in pain too. He could not reach the call button to get any help. He wanted to know how Howard Bailey got into this hospital at night. Then again, he knew that Bailey could get into just about any place he wanted. "Hey!" Mac yelled. "Hey!" He kept yelling until finally a nurse came into the room.

"Mister Taylor, are you alright?" she asked.

"No! Someone was in my room!"

The nurse came over to him. "Who was in your room?"

"Howard Bailey."

"Did he hurt you?"

"No, but my legs are hurting."

The nurse noticed that the call button was detached. She hooked it back up and pressed the emergency button. She could see that Mac was in pain and he could not relax. Soon, another nurse came to the room and a security guard. "What's going on?" the nurse asked.

"Mister Taylor says someone was in his room."

"Who was it?" the security guard asked. "I didn't see anyone come in who wasn't supposed to be here."

"It was Howard Bailey!" Mac yelled. "He's the one who did this to me!"

"I'll seal the building."

The security guard left. The nurses tried to get Mac calmed down again. "How did he get in here?" Mac demanded.

"We don't know," the second nurse, who was Mac's regular nurse said. Her name was Betty. "I'll be right back."

The other nurse stayed with Mac. "Just relax," she said.

Mac did not think he could relax. Bailey had gotten into this hospital. He did not feel safe here now but Bailey had said he would see him again when he was back to his old self and said he did not come there to hurt him. Mac did not know whether to believe that or not.

Betty soon came back with Mac's pain medication but she put it into the IV. It would also calm him down. It did not take long for Mac to feel the medicine. He started getting sleepy. "You stay with him, Sarah," Betty said.

"I will," Sarah replied. She stroked Mac's hair and wondered how there had been such a lapse in security. They had never had anything like that happen before.

The security guard had no idea what Howard Bailey looked like, but little did he know that Bailey was posing as a new janitor and he still had his loyal friends around to help him when he wanted to do his thing. He watched them search up and down the halls for someone, and smiled to know that they did not know they were looking for him. He did not intend to hurt Mac anyway. Let them look for him. He would not see Mac Taylor again until he was ready to fight and he knew that would be a long time. He knew it took a very long time for femur bones to heal. He had just wanted to scare him. He could see the fear in Mac's eyes when he was holding him down but he saw the anger too. He knew Mac meant it when he said he would kill him.

The next morning, Jo heard about what happened during the night, but Don caught her in the lobby. "Jo, don't go down there and make things worse for Mac," Don said. "Bailey doesn't want to kill Mac."

"I don't care if he doesn't!" Jo said. "He was not supposed to get into that hospital to Mac! He must be terrified!"

"I talked to the security guard and the nurses. Mac is fine. He was shaken up but after he had his pain medicine he slept the rest of the night."

"I don't like this, Don. That guy is still around and he wants to get at Mac."

"He won't get at him but we can't stay there with Mac all the time. They're responsible for the security there."

"Someone could stay there with him at night at least."

"They don't allow that, Jo."

"This is a different situation."

"I don't think Bailey is going to come back. Mac doesn't even think he'll be back. He told Mac that he would meet him when he was back to his old self."

"That is a threat."

"We can't do anything about it if we can't find him."

"Don, he could be working in that hospital or hanging around there."

"I suppose we could go and look at pictures of all their employees."

"Good. I would like to do that."

"Let's go then but let's not stir up trouble at the hospital. The chief was very specific about that. He wants to find Bailey but he doesn't want to cause trouble over there."

"Okay. Have you ever known me to be unreasonable?"

"Nah."

Don and Jo went to the hospital and went to see Mac first. He was eating his breakfast when they walked in. "Morning, Mac," Don said.

"How are you?" Jo asked.

"I'm fine," Mac replied but they could see that he was not fine.

"Do they have any idea how he got in here?"

"No. The security guard found a gap in the security footage just like it was at every other crime Bailey committed."

Jo stroked Mac's cheek. "I'm sorry this happened," she said.

"It wasn't your fault. He probably won't be back."

"What exactly did he say?"

"He said he wanted me to know that he was still around and that he intends to meet me again when I'm back to my old self. He intends for us to fight again."

"Mac, why is he so determined to compete with you?"

"Jo, it's an old story."

"One that I want to hear. I want to know why this man is so determined to best you at something."

"Bailey is one of those people who have to have competition. He joined the Marines about the same time I did."

"Did you know each other before that?"

"We took the exam at the same time and he was a hothead then. He thought he was already a Marine before he ever got to boot camp and when I did better at some things than he did, he got very competitive and caused me a lot of trouble."

"Like what?"

"Jo, that was a long time ago and it doesn't matter anymore."

"I still want to hear it."

"Bailey is six-foot four and well, I'm not. He thought since he was taller than me, he should be better than me and when he wasn't, I guess it was more than he could handle."

"And all this stemmed from that? What kind of trouble did he cause you?"

"Jo, I don't really want to talk about this."  
"I'm trying to get an idea of his mindset."

"It's arrogant."

"I still want to know what kind of trouble he caused you."

"That's just because you're nosey."

"I am, and I can't help it."

"All I know now is that he intends to show up again after I'm 'back to my old self'. That means he wants me to be able to fight him." Mac frowned. "I couldn't do anything. If he had wanted to hurt me, he could have. I couldn't even push him at all."

Jo knew how strong Mac had always been. "Don't worry," she said. "You're going to be just as good as you ever were."

"I hope so."

"Don't give me that. I'm going to be here and push you if I have to."

"Do you know how long I'm going to be here?"

"I know, Mac but we'll be here for you."

Mac frowned. He knew they would all try to be here for him but he had to get up on his own. He could not imagine getting up on his legs. They felt so weak but he knew that therapist was going to start doing more rigorous exercises soon. She only exercised his feet and ankles and his arms but she would start doing his knees and lifting his legs. He dreaded that but he wanted to get off this bed no matter what it took.

That night, Mac did not think he could go to sleep but the nurses assured him that they would be watching his room and no one would get in there. He did not think Howard Bailey would come back again, but he could not stay awake when he took that medicine. He had to go to sleep.

The next morning, after breakfast, the doctor was there to see Mac and he gave the therapist permission to start bending his leg but the braces would have to be put back on afterward. Mac thought this was not going to be pleasant but he wanted to see his legs moving even if it did hurt. By the time that session was over, Mac felt sore. His knees had been very stiff but it felt good when they moved. He was too tired to stay awake after all that.

Jo drove over to the hospital to see Mac. She went as often as she could to keep his spirits up. Today, she was bringing him some yellow roses to brighten up his room. She knocked on the door but did not hear anything so she figured he might be asleep. She went on into the room and Mac was indeed asleep. She set the roses on his table and then just watched him sleep a moment. She had always known Mac was a handsome man but she had to admit, she did not know much at all about him. She intended to stay here with him as much as she could and get him to open up about himself. He was a mystery that she wanted to solve and she thought he would be a very interesting mystery too. After all, he was going to be there for a long time.


End file.
